Creed (film)

Creed is a 2015 American sports drama directed by Ryan Coogler, who wrote the script with Aaron Covington. It's the seventh movie in the Rocky series and works as both a spin-off and a sequel to 2006's *Rocky Balboa*. The cast includes Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Tony Bellew, and Graham McTavish. The story follows amateur boxer Adonis Creed (Jordan), who gets training and guidance from Rocky Balboa (Stallone)—the former opponent turned friend of Adonis's father, Apollo Creed. Though *Rocky Balboa* was originally seen as the franchise's finale, MGM brought Coogler on in 2013 to create a Rocky spin-off. Coogler and Covington finished their original script by April 2014, with Jordan and Stallone already attached. The rest of the cast was set by January 2015, and principal photography ran from then until April, shooting in Liverpool, Philadelphia, and Gainesville, Georgia. This film marked the final project for longtime franchise producer Robert Chartoff, who died two months after filming wrapped; the movie is dedicated to him. *Creed* premiered on November 19, 2015, at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles and hit U.S. theaters on November 25 via Warner Bros., timed to the 40th anniversary of the opening scene in the original *Rocky*. It earned $174.1 million worldwide and drew strong reviews for Coogler's direction, the script, and the acting. The National Board of Review named it one of the top ten films of 2015. Stallone won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, and he received an Academy Award nomination in the same category. Sequels *Creed II* (2018) and *Creed III* (2023) followed. This was the first film in the franchise produced by Stallone and the first he didn't write. In 1998, Adonis "Donnie" Johnson—Apollo Creed's son from an affair—is in a Los Angeles youth detention center when Apollo's widow, Mary Anne Creed, takes him in. By 2015, Adonis is fighting amateur bouts in Tijuana. After one fight, he quits his job at Smith Boardley Financial Group to pursue professional boxing. He auditions at the elite Delphi Boxing Academy in Los Angeles, run by Tony "Little Duke" Evers Jr., but is rejected.