''Creed III'' is an upcoming American

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Michael B. Jordan (in his feature

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

) with a screenplay by Keenan Coogler and

Zach Baylin Zachary Jones Baylin is an American screenwriter, known as the writer of '' King Richard'' and co-writer of ''Creed III'' and '' Gran Turismo''. Life and career Baylin is a native of Wilmington, Delaware. He attended the Tatnall School and graduat ...

from a story they co-wrote with Ryan Coogler. The sequel to '' Creed II'' (2018) and the ninth installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise, the film stars Jordan,

Tessa Thompson Tessa Lynne Thompson (born October 3, 1983) is an American actress. She began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company while studying at Santa Monica College. She appeared in productions of '' The Tempest ...

, Jonathan Majors,

Wood Harris Sherwin David "Wood" Harris (born October 17, 1969) is an American actor. He has portrayed the drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on the HBO crime drama ''The Wire'', cocaine dealer Ace in '' Paid in Full'' and high school football player Julius Camp ...

Florian Munteanu Florian Munteanu (; born 13 October 1990), also known by his ring name Big Nasty, is a German-born Romanian actor and boxer. He is known for his role of the boxer Viktor Drago in ''Creed II'' (2018) and ''Creed III'' (2023), and Razor Fist (Marv ...

, and Phylicia Rashad. This is the first film in the franchise without

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name The Italian Stallion), is a fictional title character and the protagonist of the ''Rocky'' film series. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in all e ...

, though he still serves as a producer for his Balboa Productions banner. ''Creed III'' is scheduled to be released by United Artists Releasing in the United States and Warner Bros. Pictures internationally on March 3, 2023.

Synopsis

After the events of '' Creed II'' (2018), Adonis "Donnie" Creed is thriving in both his boxing career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damian "Dame" Anderson, resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Donnie must put his future on the line to battle Dame – a fighter who has nothing to lose.

Cast

* Michael B. Jordan as Adonis "Donnie" Creed (né Johnson) ** Alex Henderson as young Adonis "Donnie" Johnson *

as Bianca Taylor * Jonathan Majors as Damian "Dame" Anderson ** Spence Moore II as young Damian "Dame" Anderson *

as Tony "Little Duke" Evers *

Viktor Drago ''Creed II'' is a 2018 American sports drama film directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone. The sequel to ''Creed'' (2015) and the eighth installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise, the film stars Michael ...

* Phylicia Rashad as Mary Anne Creed Additionally, Tony Bellew reprises his role as "Pretty" Ricky Conlan from the first film. Selenis Leyva, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Mila Davis-Kent, and

Canelo Álvarez Santos Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez Barragán (; born 18 July 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer. He has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three o ...

have been cast in undisclosed roles.

Production

Development

In December 2018, in response to the suggestion that

Deontay Wilder Deontay Leshun Wilder (; born October 22, 1985) is an American professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020, making 10 successful defenses. By winning the title, Wilder became the first American world heavyweight cha ...

could play the son of

Clubber Lang A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

in a potential sequel to '' Creed II'' (2018), both Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan expressed interest in such a character being featured in the plot of the next installment. In September 2019, Jordan confirmed that ''Creed III'' was officially in active development.

Pre-production

In February 2020,

was announced as screenwriter, with Jordan confirmed to reprise his role as Adonis Creed. In October 2020, it was reported that, in addition to reprising his role of Adonis Creed, Jordan would also direct ''Creed III'', serving as his

. Producers had expressed interest in having Jordan serve as director, with

Irwin Winkler Irwin Winkler (born May 28, 1931) is an American film producer and director. He is the producer or director of over 58 motion pictures, dating back to 1967's '' Double Trouble'', starring Elvis Presley. The fourth film he produced, '' They Shoot ...

stating that he had personally offered the position to the actor. In April 2021, Stallone announced he would not appear as

in the film. By June 2021, Jonathan Majors entered talks to portray Adonis' new adversary. In November 2021, it was officially confirmed that Majors would appear in the film. In April 2022, it was announced that

and

would reprise their roles from previous ''Creed'' films, while Selenis Leyva, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Spence Moore II and Mila Davis-Kent joined the cast. In September 2022, Mexican boxer

was cast in an undisclosed role.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in late January 2022, with Jordan being spotted on the film's set in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

. Kramer Morgenthau returned as the cinematographer for the film, after doing so for ''Creed II''. The film was shot on

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graem ...

-certified Sony CineAlta Venice cameras and the

Panavision Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses duri ...

anamorphic format Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distort ...

, making this the first film in the series to do so. Filming later ended on April 6, 2022.

Post-production

In May 2022, the final writing credits were officiated; Ryan Coogler (director and co-writer of '' Creed'' (2015), executive producer on ''Creed II'', and producer on this film) received story credit with Keenan Coogler and Baylin, with the latter two receiving screenplay credit. Tyler Nelson serves as the film's editor.

Release

Theatrical

''Creed III'' was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on November 23, 2022 by United Artists Releasing in the United States, and Warner Bros. Pictures internationally, but on July 28, it was delayed to March 3, 2023.

References

External links

*
''Creed III''
at MGM Studios * {{Portal bar, United States, Film, Sports 2023 directorial debut films 2023 drama films 2023 films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s sports drama films African-American drama films American sequel films American sports drama films Films directed by Michael B. Jordan Films shot in Atlanta Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films New Line Cinema films Rocky (film series) films Upcoming directorial debut films Upcoming English-language films Upcoming sequel films Warner Bros. films