It’s not often that ’80s movie sequels and spin-offs are actually good, but Creed, which follows the boxing career of Apollo Creed’s son, is a rare exception to this. So you can imagine our disappointment at the news that the third instalment of the Rocky Balboa spin-off has been delayed.
Creed 3, which will see Michael B. Jordan return as Adonis Creed, has had its release date moved from November 22, 2022 to March 3, 2023, Variety report. This means that instead of competing with Black Panther 2, which comes to cinemas on November 10 this year, Creed 3 will be neck-in-neck in a box office war with Paramount’s Dungeons and Dragons movie.
It looks like Creed 3 will be the first movie of the Creed franchise to not include Sylvester Stallone reprising his iconic role as Rocky, although Screenrant reports that the actor is still on board as a producer for the film. As well as starring in the thriller movie, Jordan will also be directing it, marking the actor’s directorial debut.
Although plot details for Creed 3 are still slim, we know that Jonathan Major, who is also playing the role of Kang the Conquerer in upcoming Marvel movies, has been cast as the villain for this film, meaning that he will likely face off against Jordan in the ring.
The good news is, even if Creed 3 takes a bit longer, there are plenty of other projects in the Rocky Balboa Cinematic Universe (?) to look forward to. One such example is the action movie Drago, which will follow Rocky 4 villain Ivan Drago and his son, Viktor Drago.
The film, announced by MGM, will act as a spin-off from Creed 2, wherein Viktor Drago, played by Florian Munteanu, was the main villain.