Creed 2 Is Coming to a Theater Near You in 2018

One of the surprise successes of the 2015 movie scene was Creed: the out-of-the-box Rocky sequel that single-handedly revived the entire franchise.  Its trailer played off like an original feature until the very end, when Stallone appeared on-screen as the new Mickey.  It starred an unknown young actor, was directed by an unknown young filmmaker and followed a heretofore unknown character struggling in the ring and in life.

Clearly whatever they were doing worked.  It was a smash-hit at the box office, earning $173 million on a $35 million budget.  And despite not campaigning during Awards season — retroactively proven to be a major mistake — it still made a splash at the Oscars.

Talks of a sequel began almost immediately.  Initially, Creed 2 was supposed to come out this year: this month, in fact.  But as time went on, and no news of the film came in through the pipeline, it became immediately clear that it was not coming anytime soon.

Now, however, we have concrete information to go off of.  It is now set to be released on November 21, 2018 and will again star Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed and Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, the Italian Stallion.

While this is a sizable delay from what we had been told when talks of the sequel first started, I cannot blame the studio for taking their time with this one.  Rushed sequels suffering diminishing returns is exactly what killed the franchise the first time around (and part of what’s killing the DCEU today).  Especially with a movie this good to work from, it only makes sense for them to figure out what they want to before they go ahead and do it.

As for me, I’ll be there opening night, popcorn in hand, waiting for the opening credits with bated breath.  The first Creed was one of 2015’s best movies and a brilliant twist on the tired Rocky formula.  It featured an exceptionally talented cast and director and played more like a straight drama than an action-packed sports contest: exactly like the first movie in the franchise all the way back in 1976.  If the new movie is even half as good, it will be one of next year’s must-see features.