It’s been almost a year and a half since Creed II, the latest installment in the Rocky franchise, came out, and since then, there hasn’t been much talk about if/when Creed 3 will happen. Well, until today at least. Word’s come in that Creed 3 looks to finally be moving forward thanks to the hiring of a writer.
Zach Baylin, who wrote the upcoming Will Smith movie King Richard, has been tapped to pen Creed 3, according to The Hollywood Reporter. With Baylin’s King Richard script, which follows the father of tennis all-stars Venus and Serena Williams, appearing on the 2018 Black List and Warner Bros subsequently snatching up the project from a bidding war, evidently MGM feels he’s the right man for the job of hashing out Adonis Creed’s next story.
Finding a writer to tackle Creed 3 is a move forward, and Zach Baylin follows in the footsteps of Ryan Coogler, who wrote and directed Creed, and Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone, who wrote the Steven Caple Jr.-directed Creed II together. However, there’s still a long way to go before Creed 3 starts rolling cameras.
For one thing, Creed 3 still doesn’t have a director confirmed. It’s possible Steven Caple Jr. could reprise those duties, but perhaps MGM will decided to bring in a new creative mind to oversee things. Either way, a director needs to be found for the Creed 3 production process to speed up.
It’s also worth remembering that Michael B. Jordan is significantly more famous than he was when Creed came out in 2015, and with more fame comes more professional opportunities. Having recently wrapped filming on this September’s Without Remorse, Jordan is next set to work on David O. Russell’s yet-to-be-titled movie, and after that, he’ll move to A Journal for Jordan, the Sony picture that Denzel Washington is directing.
In other words, Michael B. Jordan’s schedule is packed, so it’ll be a while before there’s time for him to work on Creed 3. That being said, Creed II filmed from March to June of 2018, and dropped in theaters the following November. If Creed 3’s production will follow a similar time table, maybe the project could be ready to go by November 2021, thus giving us another three-year gap between movies.
Arguably the biggest plot-related question regarding Creed 3 is whether or not Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa will be involved. At the end of Creed II, following Adonis’ victory over Victor Drago, Rocky didn’t come into the ring to celebrate, telling Adonis that it was his time. Following that, Rocky traveled to Vancouver to make peace with his estranged son, Robert, and meet his grandson Logan for the first time.
Shortly after Creed II’s release, Sylvester Stallone said he was done playing Rocky Balboa, but just months later, he reversed course and said he was working on another Rocky movie. This story would see the aged boxer meeting and taking into his life a “young, angry person” who gets stuck in the U.S. illegally while visiting his sister.
If Sylvester Stallone is still interested in making this Rocky movie, does that prevent him from appearing in Creed 3? And even if the next Rocky movie doesn’t get off the ground, does Stallone want to participate in Creed 3? With Rocky now reunited with his family and Adonis entering the next stage of his boxing career, perhaps he’ll have to go through Creed 3 without his mentor by his side.
In any case, it looks like Creed 3 is finally taking the next step to becoming a reality, and we here at CinemaBlend will keep you updated on how the threequel is coming along. For now, you can look at our 2020 release schedule to figure out what movies you plan on seeing later this year.
