Given the legacy-quel’s box office success, it was only a matter of time until a followup to “Creed” was announced, and it pretty much has. “There’s no doubt that we’re making a ‘Creed 2,’” MGM CEO Gary Barber told Variety. But what will it be about? If you thought it’s beyond doubt that a sequel would follow the continuing adventures of Michael B. Jordan‘s character Adonis Johnson, you would be mistaken.
According to the trade, director Ryan Coogler and franchise star Sylvester Stallone are batting around several ideas, one of which would be a prequel of sorts reuniting Rocky Balboa and Carl Weathers‘ Apollo Creed (who died in “Rocky IV“).
READ MORE: Review: Ryan Coogler’s “Creed” Starring Michael B. Jordan And Sylvester Stallone
“Ryan has some ideas of going forward and backward and actually seeing Rocky and Apollo together,” Stallone said. “Think of ‘The Godfather 2.’ That’s what he was thinking of, which was kind of ambitious.” Of course, that movie arrived two years after “The Godfather,” not more than three decades later, as Coogler’s project would. But Stallone says Weathers is still in fighting shape and seems keen on the concept.
“So it’s going to be a CGI-version of Sly?” Jordan quipped, which is pretty much my reaction.
But if that idea doesn’t work, Stallone is open to a more traditional followup focusing on Adonis. “You’ll have him face a different opponent, which I would say is a more ferocious, big Russian,” Stallone said. “You can start to meld [Rocky’s] experiences and then you start to bring different cultures into it. And you can see what’s happening with the Russians today in America.”
Okay, but let’s just hope he’s not talking about Ivan Drago’s son or something….. At any rate, it’s early days, and it’s not clear if Coogler will be back to direct, given that his schedule is busy with “Black Panther,” coupled with the desire to get a “Creed” followup out sooner rather than later.
Ideas? Share your concepts for “Creed 2” below.