CREED reinvigorated the ROCKY franchise by putting a new character in the ring, and a talented director in the chair. Earning rave reviews and breaking $100 million, people were back on the ROCKY train like never before. Now that the sequel is chugging along, the studio seems confident in handing things back to the series original architect – Sylvester Stallone – as it was by the star that he will be directing CREED 2.
The news came last night when Stallone posted an Instagram pic saying he will be directing the movie after having written the film, which will bring back Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed (the son of Apollo Creed), with there being allusions to the return of Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago. Ryan Coogler directed CREED and has since been busy with BLACK PANTHER for Marvel.
Stallone was nominated for an Oscar for writing the first ROCKY and returned to the golden ring when he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for CREED (he won the Golden Globe). Stallone directed ROCKY II, III, IV and ROCKY BALBOA – making him the supreme shepherd of the series. If he does indeed direct, it appears this will be his “last round,” as he hints this could be last time working on the series.
The studio has made no comment on Stallone, but we’ve gotten basically all our news about the sequel from Stallone, so this is probably as legit as everything else. If he does direct, I have to say, I’m actually not 100 percent down with this. There are die-hard fans of the movies, for sure, but what was so spectacular about CREED was that it felt so fresh stylistically, and a large part of that is thanks to Coogler. Stallone is a talented man, and BALBOA was actually pretty good, but I really loved what Coogler had going. With Stallone handling the script and the camera, it may all start feeling like more of the same. But, hey, people doubted Rocky, and look what he was able to accomplish!