Sylvester Stallone announced that he is directing and producing Creed 2 on Monday in an Instagram post.
This will be Stallone’s ninth time in the director’s chair and the first since The Expendables, which was released in 2010. He directed every Rocky movie besides Rocky, Rocky V and Creed. John G. Avildsen (The Karate Kid) helmed those two Rocky films, and Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) tackled Creed.
Michael B. Jordan is set to reprise his role as Adonis Creed alongside Stallone as Rocky Balboa.
Stallone said he completed the script back in July, but said nothing about directing. The Italian Stallion has also written all the Rocky movies except for Creed, which was written by Coogler and Aaron Covington (NBA 2K17) from a story by Coogler.
There are no official details on the plot yet, but it’s confirmed Rocky IV villain Ivan Drago will have a presence. Stallone has said this many times in his Instagram posts like this one, and a production schedule published on MyEntertainmentWorld.com on Sunday says Creed wants to get back at “the man who killed his father,” which would be Drago. They say production starts Feb. 5.
Creed was released in 2015 after a nine year break from the last Rocky film, which itself came out 16 years after Rocky V. Creed grossed about $175 million at the box office off a $35 million production budget.
There’s a hell of a training montage to live up to.