“ONE MORE ROUND!” SAYS DIRECTOR STALLONE
This week Sylvester Stallone made the exciting announcement Rocky fans have been looking forward to since the 2015 release of the spinoff film “Creed” – a return to the big screen for Rocky Balboa.
“Looking forward to directing and Producing The incredibly talented Michael B Jordan in CREED 2 next year,” Sly wrote on Instagram. “One more Round!”
Earlier this week, Stallone posted a lesser-known color photo from the set of 1985’s “Rocky IV” showing himself and Dolph Lundgren, battered and bloody with movie makeup, hanging on the ropes together between takes. “Get ready for the next generation on the way!!,” the photo is captioned.
Stallone has been extremely active in teasing and promoting the upcoming “Creed” sequel on social media over the past several months, even going to far as to release a snapshot of his handwritten working screenplay this summer. The portion of the script available in the photo suggests a lot about the plot, including an appearance by Rocky’s Russian rival, Ivan Drago.
Dolph Lundgren has released video of himself in intense training recently, which very possibly could be for his return to his most famous film role.
According to Sly’s Instagram message, it seems Michael B. Jordan will definitely be reprising his role as Adonis Creed in the film, and most of us are guessing that Tessa Thompson (Bianca) and Phylicia Rashad (Mary Anne Creed) will be reteaming for this sequel, based on the fact that their characters are present in the released portion of the script.
After the great critical success of “Creed”, it was hoped that breakout director Ryan Coogler would be on board for the sequel, but due to his completely booked schedule, Coogler evidently will not be part of the new project.
Sylvester Stallone had a hand in producing the first “Creed”, but has only a good handful of producing credits under his belt, including his first foray with the John Travolta musical “Staying Alive” (1983), and later the boxing reality TV series “The Contender”, among other films.
“Creed II” is currently scheduled to begin shooting in February, 2018 and is set for a late 2018 release date.
