Incredibly, the Rocky franchise has been around longer than Star Wars, and is in the midst of a critical and commercial rejuvenation following the success of Creed and its sequel. With Sylvester Stallone moving into a supporting role, and dusting off his other signature character for further adventures, Michael B. Jordan has now well and truly established himself as the focal point of the series.
As well as a rumored spinoff that will see Rocky Balboa take a troubled immigrant under his wing, Creed III is also in the works, and while the project is still in the very early stages of development, Jordan could be set to follow the path already taken by his onscreen mentor and direct the ninth installment of the franchise himself.
Producer Irwin Winkler, who has been involved with Rocky since the first chapter way back in 1976, revealed in his recent memoir that there’s a standing offer for the 32 year-old Black Panther star to step in and direct Creed III himself.
“I promised Michael B. Jordan that he’d get his chance to direct Creed III. Last year, I offered him the opportunity to not only star in, but also to direct Creed III.”
The actor has been broadening his filmmaking horizons in recent years, with his production company Outlier Society signing a lucrative first-look deal with Warner Bros., who’ve handled the distribution on the Creed movies. With the next step in his career already underway thanks to a series of executive producer credits on his most recent projects, directing seems like the next logical step for someone as ambitious as Michael B. Jordan.
After all, Sylvester Stallone directed four of the Rocky sequels himself as well as starring as the title character, so the franchise already has a precedent for this kind of thing. Giving Jordan the job would be a huge gamble given his lack of experience, but Stallone only had one feature film under his belt as director before taking the reins of Rocky II, which led to a long and relatively successful career behind the camera that Jordan would be keen to emulate.