Creed is an upcoming American sports drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler, co-written by Aaron Covington and produced by Sylvester Stallone. The film stars Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Johnson Creed – Apollo’s son – and Stallone reprising the role of Rocky Balboa. It also features Tessa Thompson, Tony Bellew and Graham McTavish. It is the seventh Rocky film, both a spin-off from the original series and the indirect successor to 2006’s Rocky Balboa, and also reunites Jordan with Fruitvale Station writer/director Coogler and also Wood Harris, whom Jordan worked with on The Wire. It is also the first Rocky film not to have Stallone as a writer.
Filming began on January 19, 2015 in Liverpool and later also took place in Philadelphia, Rocky’s symbolic home. It is scheduled to be released on November 25, 2015 in the United States – the 40th anniversary of the date of the opening scene in the original Rocky.
Adonis Johnson Creed grew up without knowing his father Apollo, the one-time world heavyweight champion, and struggles to channel the strength, skill and toughness he inherited from him. After a fight in prison, he receives a visit from Rocky Balboa. Rocky had been given a world title shot by Apollo when he was just a club fighter in Philadelphia (Rocky), had eventually won Apollo’s title in a rematch (Rocky II), had befriended him and been coached by him, rediscovering what Apollo called his “eye of the tiger” (Rocky III) and had been in Apollo’s corner when Apollo had died in the ring against Ivan Drago (Rocky IV). Rocky shows Adonis who Apollo was and shows he believes Adonis can be a great like his father. Adonis tracks down Rocky at Adrian’s Restaurant – the Italian restaurant in Philadelphia that Rocky owns and operates, named after his late wife – and asks Rocky to train him, and although Rocky is reluctant to re-enter the sport of boxing, having already suffered from trauma to the brain (Rocky V) and made a one-off comeback at a very advanced age (Rocky Balboa) before re-entering retirement, Rocky agrees.
However, Adonis is faced not only with an opponent arguably tougher than any fighter Apollo or Rocky fought, but also with the weight of his father’s legacy and his mother (Mary Anne Creed, played by Rashad)’s misgivings, having already lost her husband in the ring. Meanwhile, Rocky is faced with his own mortality after he collapses and is hospitalized, having already seen Adrian and his trainers Mickey and Paulie pass away in addition to Apollo.[3] Trailers show Adonis taking on two training exercises famous from earlier Rocky films – catching a chicken and a long training run across Philadelphia ending with a climb of the “Rocky Steps” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art – and also wearing American flag trunks similar to those worn by Apollo in Rocky and by Rocky in Rocky III and Rocky IV
