What is Creed?
Creed continues the Rocky legacy with the story of a new boxing hero.
December 2015
Jake Butler '17
Creed is a 2015 American sports drama film, written and directed by Ryan Coogler. This film was created to be both a spin-off and a sequel of the Rocky series which Sylvester Stallone starred in, wrote, and produced. This go around, Stallone gave all of his power to Ryan Coogler, who came up with the idea for this film. The film stars Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Johnson, Apollo Creed’s son, with Stallone reprising the role of Rocky Balboa.
Filming began on January 19, 2015 in Liverpool, and later in Philadelphia, the home of Rocky Balboa. Creed was released in the United States on November 25, 2015, which is the 40th anniversary of the opening for the first scene of the original Rocky movie. This film was praised by critics who called it the best Rocky film in many years. For Stallone’s performance in this film, he won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, his first Golden Globe nomination since the original Rocky, 39 years earlier.
This film is about Adonis Johnson who is the son of former heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed. Apollo, having died in the ring in Rocky IV, was not alive when Adonis was born. Being the son of Apollo Creed and never getting the chance to meet him, Adonis wants to follow in his footsteps and take on the world of boxing. In order to succeed, Adonis seeks out Apollo’s good friend, Rocky Balboa to train him, who was also a famous champion boxer. Throughout training, Adonis and Rocky form a connection just like Rocky had with Apollo in the past. Adonis is soon given a chance to take on the world champion with the help of Rocky.
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The film was originally projected to gross $35 million from 3,404 theaters in its first five days, including $20 million in its opening weekend. However, after grossing $1.4 million from its Tuesday night previews, which is a record for a Thanksgiving week release, and $6 million on its opening day, five-day projections were increased to between $39 and $42 million. The film ended up grossing $42.6 million in its first five days, including $30.1 million in its opening weekend, finishing third at the box office. As of December 13, 2015, Creed has grossed $79.3 million in North America and $5.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $84.6 million, against a budget of $35 million.