The Rocky franchise is one of those film series that might go down at times but can never be counted out. Everyone had thought that the storied franchise was done after 2006’s Rocky Balboa but new life was breathed into the franchise with last fall’s surprise blockbuster, Creed.
Creed was a massive critical and financial success that helped to successfully reboot the rapidly aging franchise for a new generation. The film grossed $173.6 million on a measly $35 million budget and made newcomer Michael B. Jordan into a bona fide star. It even helped to earn Sylvester Stallone an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Creed actually managed to revive Rocky in the video game world, too. It brought about a mobile fighting game for smart devices, Real Boxing 2, as well as new a licensed casino title based on the franchise at large. This site called the latter a “heavyweight slot” that “packs a punch,” as players are encouraged to step into the ring against some of the most famous adversaries of the Italian Stallion from throughout the series. With this level of success in the theatres and even in gaming, it comes as no surprise that there’s already talk of a sequel to Creed. And we have the low down on some of the most enticing rumours for the upcoming film, including several seriously big cameos.
Much of Creed‘s success came from the unflinching realism of the film. One of the reasons the fights looked so real is these largely weren’t actors in the ring. Creed starred several real-life fighters as the opponents of the titular character; former super-middleweight champion Andre Ward played Danny “Stuntman” Wheeler and former light-middleweight champion Gabriel Rosado played another of Creed’s challengers. In fact, Creed’s opponent in the final bout was none other than current EBU cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, so naturally we’re already thinking ahead of which fighters might make an appearance in the sequel.
Few fighters are more popular (or as talented) as Irishman Conor McGregor and according to one blog, director Ryan Coogler had hinted that he’d love to have McGregor at least make a cameo in the next film in the series. Unfortunately, it might be a long shot for fans of “The Notorious” as it definitely won’t be happening with Coogler at the helm. The director has been forced to drop out of the project due to his commitment for the upcoming Marvel film, Black Panther.
Thankfully, rising star Michael B. Jordan is still completely on board and he has big ideas for what to expect from a sequel. This article states that the actor feels the sequel needs a proper villain, not dissimilar to Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. He was actually responsible for the death of Creed‘s father, Apollo, and as close to a true villain the series has ever gotten. If Creed 2 ends up looking more like Rocky IV, we’re more than OK with that. It’s one of the best films in the franchise and it’d be great to see Jordan fight up against an honest-to-goodness bad guy. Who knows, maybe Conor McGregor might be just the man for the job.
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