It took some time, but I finally got around to watching Sylvester Stallone's ROCKY franchise two years ago in preparation for the release of CREED. Each and every film was greatly enjoyed, and, after kicking myself for not watching them sooner, I was left eagerly awaiting Ryan Coogler's spin-off which focused on Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the illegitimate son of the late former heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). CREED proved to be yet another success in the long-running franchise, and it was inevitable that a sequel would soon follow, and now we know just when we can expect it.
Buried in the news of a joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Annapurna Pictures was the release date of the CREED sequel, which will be released in partnership with Warner Bros. on November 21, 2018. There's no word on just where the sequel will take Adonis, but Sylvester Stallone has not so subtly been hinting that Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) from ROCKY IV could factor into the next CREED film. With that little business of Ivan Drago killing Adonis' father in the ring, I can imagine that there may be a little unresolved anger towards the Russian. Sylvester Stallone polished off the script for CREED 2 earlier this year, and later announced that he would be directing the sequel himself.
As for that MGM/Annapurna partnership, the two studios will "share funding for the joint venture’s operations while each studio will retain creative control over their individual projects. The marketing and distribution team established at Annapurna will help in the campaigns for all MGM titles, which will be distributed under the MGM banner. Annapurna’s produced films will continue to be distributed under Annapurna’s already established label."