It won’t hit our screens for another couple of weeks, but Rocky spin-off Creed has already been a big box office success in the US and is hoovering up award nominations. Now, talking to Variety, Sylvester Stallone has been spilling the beans on some potential sequel ideas.
Though it could just be Rocky himself spitballing possibilities, it certainly sounds like MGM is ready to step back into the ring for another round with world of Rocky Balboa, which in Creed finds the former boxer begrudgingly agreeing to train the son of old opponent and friend Apollo Creed. “Ryan (Coogler) has some ideas of going forward and backward and actually seeing Rocky and Apollo together,” Stallone revealed. “Think of The Godfather 2. That’s what he was thinking of, which was kind of ambitious.” It sounds a little like Sly could be joking about that one – imagine trying to find people to play younger Rocky and Apollo, played in the franchise by Carl Weathers – but there’s also the chance that the story could instead move on to another opponent for Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed.
But though it sounds like Stallone has split a punching bag and felines have come spilling out, there’s no concrete word yet on whether any of these potential ideas will hit the screen. One big issue is the involvement of writer/director Coogler, who came up with the idea for Creed and sold Sly on the idea. He’s currently in talks to direct Black Panther for Marvel, and that could affect his availability. “I know Ryan is probably going to be gone for a couple years,” Stallone says. “So there will be a quandary on: Do we work with another director and have Ryan produce, or do we wait? There’s a diminishing time acceptance of a sequel. Now they are cranking them out in a year.”
Creed will be out here on January 15. When – or whether – the sequel arrives is a matter for Coogler, Stallone and MGM to still figure out.