After helping bring Rocky back to life in 2015’s Creed, Ryan Coogler was happy to pass the mantle onto the series’ star, Michael B. Jordan, who apparently put together one hell of a movie in his directing debut.
For Coogler, Creed was only his second feature-length film, but it sure helped him make a name for himself after receiving plenty of praise for his vision in the radically different Fruitvale Station, also starring Jordan. The pair also worked together on Coogler's biggest blockbuster, Black Panther, where Jordan was instrumental in playing one of the best MCU villains, so if Coogler is willing to vouch for Adonis Creed's camera work, that’s an opinion certainly worth listening to.
In that sense, during an interview with Collider, Coogler was asked what he thought of Jordan's first movie as director, Creed 3, which saw Coogler step back to a producing role. Coogler did not spare Jordan any compliments, calling the experience of watching Creed 3 simply “Fantastic. That’s what it was like.” For Coogler, Creed 3 is even more special, as his younger brother Keenan Coogler co-wrote the screenplay along with Zach Baylin (King Richard), so he limited himself to expressing how proud he was of everyone involved in the film.
Overall, Coogler seems immensely happy with the work done by Jordan as well as Jonathan Majors, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, and one young star playing the role of a character called Amara. Creed 3 takes place 5 years after the second movie when Donnie and Bianca's happy lives get rocked by the resurfacing of Adonis' former friend and up-and-coming boxer, Damon Anderson. To settle their feud, Creed decides to face Anderson in the ring.
It’s more than certain that Creed will have his work cut out for him, as Majors' physical transformation left him looking like a truly fearsome rival, even more so than Jordan, who’s moved up weight classes since his boxing debut after bulking up to play Killmonger. Coogler clearly has a lot of love and respect for Jordan, and the two really stick together in most projects.
Despite suffering a prior delay, Creed 3 is now scheduled to land in theaters in March next year. Expectations for the film will be quite high, especially considering the Rocky and Creed franchises were part of what lured Amazon to acquire MGM Studios, besides James Bond and all his gadgets, of course.
Creed 3 is scheduled to release in theatres on March 3, 2023.
Source: Collider