Having racked up over $100 million at the box office and knocking out the critics, Creed is a bonafide hit and MGM CEO Gary Barber has confirmed to Variety, “There’s no doubt that we’re making a ‘Creed 2.” With Michael B. Jordan confirming his willingness to come back to give Adonis another round, all attention is now on what the two masterminds behind the sequel/spin-off will bring to the table, namely director Ryan Coogler and Rocky creator Sylvester Stallone, who is a near-lock for a Creed Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. There’s one hitch: A little Marvel Studios movie called Black Panther that Coogler is currently in advanced negotiations to direct. Should Coogler take the gig, Stallone thinks it’s unlikely the powers that be will let the Creed sizzle fizzle while they wait for the auteur to finish his superhero flick.
“There’s a diminishing time acceptance of a sequel,” Stallone says. “Three years is a little much.”
It’s all but assured that if MGM moves forward on Creed 2 without Coogler, the 29-year-old wunderkind will remain onboard as an executive producer and possibly guide another young filmmaker such as himself to recapture the lightning in a bottle they had this time out. Coogler has even had discussions with Stallone for the next installment, which could potentially mirror Rocky IV or even take a page from The Godfather Part II playbook and feature recurring flashbacks to Apollo Creed before his death.
“You’ll have him face a different opponent, which I would say is a more ferocious, big Russian,” Stallone says. “There’s a lot there.”
“Oh no!” Coogler sighed when he learns Stallone divulged the early story concepts. “There are no secrets with Sly.”
Despite years of Sly claiming he was toying with an idea for a Rambo V, his new acclaim for dramatic chops has him thinking he’s done with the action game.
“The heart’s willing, but the body says, ‘Stay home!’” he says. “It’s like fighters that go back for one last round and get clobbered. Leave it to someone else.”
He also confirmed that he’s not involved at all with the recently proposed “Rambo: New Blood” TV series at Fox, which will revolve around the character’s heretofore unseen son.
“I don’t want to cast aspersions,” Stallone says, “but it’s delicate to try to replace a character with his son. I’ve seen the son of Flicka, the son of Tarzan, the son of King Kong. It’s a very difficult premise.”
