Creed III

Creed III: The third installment of Creed franchise.

Creed III is a 2023 American sports drama film directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin. The film is the sequel to Creed II (2018), the third in the Creed series, and the overall ninth installment in the Rocky film series. It also stars Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu, and Phylicia Rashad. It is the first film in the series without Sylvester Stallone starring as Rocky Balboa, though he still serves as a producer alongside the first film’s director, Ryan Coogler.

A third Creed film was officially announced in September 2019, and in October 2020 Jordan was hired to make his directorial debut, as well as reprise his role. Majors and the rest cast joined between November 2021 and September of the following year, while it was also confirmed Stallone would not appear in the film. Principal photography began in late-January 2022 and lasted through April, taking place in Georgia, Tampa, Florida, and Los Angeles, California.

Creed III had its world premiere in Mexico City on February 9, 2023, and was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States and Warner Bros. Pictures internationally on March 3, 2023. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.

It is the first title to be self-distributed by MGM under the ownership of Amazon, who shut down the studio’s previous distributor United Artists Releasing on the day of the film’s release, due to the financial failures of the studio’s 2022 awards season titles.

Creed 3 Movie Plot

In 2002 Los Angeles, a young Adonis “Donnie” Creed sneaks out with his best friend, Golden Gloves champion Damian “Diamond Dame” Anderson, to watch Dame compete in an underground boxing match. After Dame’s victory, Dame tells Donnie about his aspirations to turn professional and become a world champion. During a detour at a liquor store, Donnie impulsively attacks a man named Leon.

In 2017, Donnie fights and wins in a rematch against “Pretty” Ricky Conlan, who just got released from his prison sentence and worked his way back to be a contender for a championship fight. He retires from boxing to focus on his wife Bianca and their daughter Amara. Three years later, Donnie runs Delphi Boxing Academy with his coach Tony “Little Duke” Evers Jr., and is promoting his protégé, world champion Felix “El Guerrero” Chavez, in a match against Viktor Drago. Due to her hearing problems, Bianca forgoes performing and becomes a successful producer. The two keep watch over the declining health of Donnie’s adoptive mother Mary Anne. Amara aspires to be a boxer like her father, which gets her into trouble in school.

Dame is released from prison and reconnects with Donnie, to whom he shares his desires to continue his boxing career. Donnie reluctantly invites Dame to the gym to spar with Chavez, however his aggressive style draws scorn from Chavez and Duke. Dame later visits Donnie’s home, where he meets his family and shares about their time together at a group home, which Bianca has never heard of. Privately, Dame expresses his desire for a title shot against Chavez, citing Donnie’s previous one-in-a-million shot, which Donnie refuses.

At a party for Bianca’s record label, Dame cryptically tells Bianca about Leon before Drago is attacked by an unknown assailant; his injury casts doubt on his fight with Chavez. Donnie suggests Dame as an opponent, pitching an underdog fight much like Rocky Balboa’s first title shot, which Chavez accepts. During the fight, Dame fights dirty, but knocks out Chavez, winning the undisputed heavyweight championship.

After the match, an uneasy Donnie visits Mary Anne, who shows him letters Dame wrote to Donnie while in prison that she kept from him due to believing he was a bad influence. One letter contains a picture showing Dame with a fellow inmate that Donnie recognizes as the one who assaulted Drago. Realizing Dame orchestrated the attack, Donnie confronts him. Dame reveals that he manipulated all their encounters to set him up as a champion to enact revenge for Donnie abandoning him during his arrest and jail time, before giving him a black eye. Donnie is unable to open up to Bianca about his guilt over Dame, who revels in his newfound fame and publicly slanders Donnie as a fraud who turned his back on him.

Mary Anne suffers another stroke and dies. After the funeral, Donnie confesses to Bianca the truth: Leon was the abusive caregiver in the group home Dame and Donnie lived in before Donnie was adopted. After Donnie attacked Leon at the liquor store, a brawl against Leon’s friends ensued causing Dame to pull a gun. As cops arrived, Donnie fled, but Dame was arrested. Attempting to block out the memory, Donnie never contacted Dame out of shame and guilt. Knowing Dame would not stop defaming him, he tells Bianca there’s only one way to bring him down.

Donnie goes on First Take, where Dame calls in to goad Donnie over the phone. Donnie decides to come out of retirement and challenges Dame for the championship, which he accepts. After training with Duke and a recovered Drago, Donnie faces Dame in the “Battle of Los Angeles” at Dodger Stadium. Donnie faces Dame in a grueling, evenly matched affair. In the final round, Donnie uses Duke’s advice to let go of his fear and guilt and takes advantage of Dame’s drained energy, delivering a knockout to win the match and the championship. Afterwards, Donnie reconciles with Dame, with both men admitting it was not the other’s fault. Donnie joins Bianca and Amara in the ring in the empty stadium, where he pretends to box with Amara.

Creed 3 Cast

• Michael B. Jordan as Adonis “Donnie” Creed (né Johnson)
• Thaddeus J. Mixon as 15-year-old Adonis “Donnie” Johnson
• Tessa Thompson as Bianca Taylor
• Jonathan Majors as Damian “Dame” Anderson
• Spence Moore II as 18-year-old Damian “Dame” Anderson
• Wood Harris as Tony “Little Duke” Evers
• Florian Munteanu as Viktor Drago
• Phylicia Rashad as Mary Anne Creed
• Mila Davis-Kent as Amara Creed
• José Benavidez Jr. as Felix Chavez
• Selenis Leyva as Laura Chavez

Additionally, Tony Bellew reprises his role as “Pretty” Ricky Conlan from the first film. Boxer Canelo Álvarez and singer Kehlani make cameo appearances as themselves.

Creed 3 Release

Creed III premiered in Mexico City on February 9, 2023, and was released in the United States on March 3. The film was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on November 23, 2022, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States, and Warner Bros. Pictures internationally, but on July 28, it was delayed to March 3.

It is the first MGM title to not be distributed by United Artists Releasing after Amazon shut down the distributor’s operations and folded it into MGM itself on the day of the film’s release, as a result of both the box office failures of Bones and All and Orion Pictures’ Till and Women Talking due to the general public no longer supporting prestige films during the late awards season period, and the decision to release Amazon Studios’ Air in theaters worldwide the following month in response to that film’s 2024 Oscar buzz.

Creed 3 On Box Office

In the United States and Canada, Creed III was released alongside Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Swordsmith Village and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, is projected to gross $38-40 million from 4,007 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $22 million on its first day, including $5.45 million from Wednesday and Thursday night previews (the best total of the trilogy).

Creed III Reviews, Critical Response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 224 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website’s consensus reads, “Stepping out from Rocky Balboa’s iconic shadow at last, the Creed franchise reasserts its champion status thanks to star Michael B. Jordan’s punchy direction and a nuanced heel turn by Jonathan Majors.“

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A–” on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 92% positive score, with 80% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Creed 3 Future

On February 2, 2023, Jordan confirmed that a fourth Creed film was happening “for sure” and that spin-offs were also being considered.