Summary
- Warner Bros. has acquired the new film by Ryan Coogler, with Michael B. Jordan set to star. This marks their fifth collaboration together.
- The deal came about after a bidding war, with Warner Bros. emerging as the victor.
- The film, written by Coogler, is believed to have franchise potential and may be a period thriller set in the Jim Crow-era South. There are also rumors of it involving the undead and being influenced by anime.
The latest film by director Ryan Coogler has been acquired by Warner Bros. with Michael B. Jordan attached to star in the secret movie. Coogler and Jordan recently worked together in the MCU on Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which together grossed more than $2 billion dollars at the box office. This will mark the duo’s fifth collaboration together, a partnership that started back in 2013 with Fruitvale Station.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the deal came together after a bidding war which saw Warner Bros. and Universal as the remaining two entities battling it out for the rights to the film. Warner Bros. co-chairs and CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy came out victorious in a somewhat expected outcome, as the duo were highly influential in getting Creed 3 up and running during their time at MGM. The contest started last month after Coogler revealed his spec script to executives and potential buyers at the offices of WME, the company that represents Coogler.
Sundance Film Festival to Honor Ryan Coogler With Sundance Institute Variety Visionary Award
The award will be given at the inaugural edition of ‘Opening Night: A Taste of Sundance,’ presented by IMDbPro.
The new original film, which is also written by Ryan Coogler, is said to have franchise potential, which is a big factor that went into the decision by Warner Bros. in its acquisition. While details are being kept under wraps right now, the film is believed to be a period thriller, with a possible setting being the Jim Crow-era South. There’s also speculation that it could center around the undead, with some also saying its influences have roots in anime, something Jordan is a big fan of.
Michael B. Jordan is Big Business Right Now
While the unknown Coogler and Jordan film is expected to start shooting this April in New Orleans, Michael B. Jordan is on a hot streak right now that doesn’t seem to be cooling down anytime soon. After the success of Creed 3 in 2023, which earned a whopping $275 million dollars at the box office, the 37-year-old actor/director is looking to maintain that momentum by not only continuing the franchise with Creed 4, but with spin-offs as well.
Speaking to ScreenRant just days before the release of Creed 3, Jordan mentioned how the franchise has built an interesting array of characters that the audience has responded to. He said that while there will be “more of the Creed family,” he’s unsure as of now what that will look like:
“But you will see the Creed-verse continue to grow and expand. I think that we invested in some really interesting characters that I think a lot of people were responding to. I have to give a political answer to that. There’s going to be more of the Creed family, and there’s gonna be more of some of the characters that you love from this movie. I just don’t know what package it’s going to be in yet.”
Creed III
- Release Date
- March 3, 2023
- Runtime
- 1 hour and 56 minutes
- Writers
- Zach Baylin , Keenan Coogler
- Format
- Theatrical
- Studio
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Warner Bros., Chartoff-Winkler Productions
- Franchise
- Rocky
With Creed 4 in active development, Jordan also has a hand in producing the upcoming Amazon Studios film, Iron Curtain, alongside producer Christopher McQuarrie, who’s coming off his own successes with Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible and Top Gun franchises.
As for Ryan Coogler, his production company, Proximity Media, has already been garnering high praise thanks to their first film, Judas and the Black Messiah, which was lauded by critics and took home two Academy Awards in 2021. Since then, the company has secured an exclusive deal with Disney that will see a number of projects be put in development, and will play a big part in bringing the much-anticipated Ironheart series to life on Disney+.
Creed 3
is available for streaming on Prime Video.
