Creed Sequel Release Date Planned For November 2017

While it still isn't clear whether a sequel to Creed would focus on Adonis Johnson or Apollo Creed, MGM is hoping to have the second movie in the hit franchise in theaters two years after the release of the first, according to Variety.

Speaking with an MGM executive at the Golden Globes last night, Variety learned of a November 2017 target date for Creed 2.

"That's my goal," MGM CEO Gary Barber said, although it isn't yet official.

With Michael B. Jordan's star rising and the failure of Fantastic Four, Creed not only reinvigorated the Rocky universe but helped cement studios' faith in Jordan as a franchise leading man. It would seem like including him in the next installment would be a no-brainer, but Rocky creator and franchise executive producer Sylvester Stallone said recently that the next film might actually go back in time and feature Stallone and Carl Weathers interacting before Apollo's death in 1985's Rocky IV.

"Ryan has some ideas of going forward and backward and actually seeing Rocky and Apollo together," Stallone revealed. "Think of The Godfather [Part] 2. That's what he was thinking of, which was kind of ambitious."

Another idea would be keeping things in tune with the Rocky movies with Adonis taking on another challenger. "You'll have him face a different opponent, which I would say is a more ferocious, big Russian," Stallone said. "You can start to meld my experiences and then you start to bring different cultures into it. And you can see what's happening with the Russians today in America."

In either case, it seems unlikely that a 2017 release would allow for Creed co-writer and director Ryan Coogler to return. The filmmaker is rumored to be in talks for Marvel's Black Panther, which would take him off the board for Creed sequels for a while.

"I know Ryan is going to be gone for a couple years," Stallone said during that previous interview. "There's a diminishing time acceptance of a sequel."

Stallone, of course, might be the odds-on favorite to direct a sequel that either heavily or exclusively dealt with Rocky and Apollo. Stallone wrote all six of the Rocky movies and directed Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV and Rocky Balboa.