Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut and Rocky spin-off, Creed III, have been massive successes at the box office. The film earned a massive $59 million at the domestic box office and over $100 million internationally in its opening weekend.
Further, its outstanding performance establishes a new benchmark for the Rocky-Creed franchise. As of now, Creed III is the Rocky-Creed film with the highest opening weekend debut. This success has apparently strengthened Amazon’s faith in the Rocky franchise.
According to Deadline, Amazon, MGM’s parent company, and Michael B. Jordan are currently in discussions about expanding the Rocky-Creed universe. The news outlet reports that the duo is currently outlining several projects, including a potential anime series.
However, aside from a previously announced Rocky spin-off film focused on the Rocky IV villain, the iconic Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) and his son Viktor (Florian Munteanu), Neither Jordan nor Amazon have fully settled on developing a follow-up project to Creed III.
But Amazon is committed to making Ivan Drago’s project into a feature film. The studio has commissioned Robert Lawton (Sex & Sushi, Crave) to develop a script for the project. In addition, Deadline’s report also teases a potential successor to Jordan’s Adonis Creed. The report states that Amazon is considering developing a sequel featuring Adonis’ daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent).
Also, Rocky star Sylvester Stallone was notably absent from Creed III. This was the first time in 47 years and over nine films that the star failed to appear in a Rocky project. Thus leaving fans uncertain over their beloved character’s future. According to Variety, Stallone’s absence was due to his objections to the film’s creative direction and his ongoing feud with the franchise’s longtime producer, Irwin Winkler.
Stallone recently addressed his absence in Creed III while discussing with the Hollywood Reporter. The star said:”That’s a regretful situation because I know what it could have been.” “It was taken in a direction that is quite different than I would’ve taken it.” He further added, “I wish them well, but I’m much more of a sentimentalist.” “I like my heroes getting beat up, but I just don’t want them going into that dark space. I just feel people have enough darkness.”