Creed III

Creed III is a 2023 American sports drama film starring and directed by Michael B. Jordan in his directorial debut, and produced by Jordan, Irwin Winkler, Charles Winkler, William Chartoff, David Winkler, Ryan Coogler, Elizabeth Raposo, Jonathan Glickman and Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to Creed II (2018), the third installment in the Creed film series, and the ninth overall in the Rocky franchise. The film was written by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin from a story they co-wrote with Ryan Coogler. The film sees the accomplished and recently retired boxer Adonis Creed (portrayed by Jordan) come face-to-face with his childhood friend and former boxing prodigy Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors). Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Mila Davis-Kent, Florian Munteanu, and Phylicia Rashad also star. A third Creed film was officially announced in September 2019, alongside Jordan's return; he was also confirmed to be making his directorial debut in October 2020, making this the fifth film in the series to be directed by the lead actor, following Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, and Rocky Balboa, which were directed by Sylvester Stallone, who played the title character in the first six films before reprising it for the last two times in Creed and Creed II. Majors and the remainder of the cast joined between November 2021 and September 2022; Creed III is the first film in the series not to feature Stallone reprising his role as Rocky Balboa, though he remained as a producer. Principal photography began in January 2022 and lasted until that April, with filming locations including Los Angeles, Tampa, and Georgia. Creed III premiered in Mexico City on February 9, 2023, which coincided with Jordan's 36th birthday, and was released in the United States on March 3. It is the first film distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by themselves to not have the United Artists Releasing logo since Fighting with My Family (2019). The film received positive reviews from critics for Jordan's direction, the story, performances and fighting sequences. Like its predecessors, the film was a box office success, grossing $276.1 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Creed film and the second highest grossing Rocky film. A sequel is in development.