AMAZON is looking to expand the Creed movie franchise into a universe that spans both film and TV, according to a new report from Deadline.
After the global success of Creed III, which has shattered box office records and earned over US$100 million (about RM452 million) worldwide, Amazon has met with franchise star Michael B. Jordan.
Details of the scope of the universe are still being developed but early plans for an anime series connected to the Rocky spinoff IP are in the works, along with a live-action TV series.
Additionally, there is talk of a project focused on Adonis Creed's daughter, Amara, who was played by deaf actor Mila Davis-Kent in Creed III.
MGM is working on a Drago spinoff film centered on Russian boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) and his son, Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), who was introduced as Creed's rival in Creed II.
There is also the possibility of more Creed feature instalments, as well as ideas for other live-action and animated movies.
Jordan has expressed his excitement about building the Creed universe, and through three movies, the franchise is nearing the half-billion-dollar mark at the global box office.
There have been talks for years about exploring the original Rocky franchise, but no details have been revealed.
Ahead of the release of ‘Creed III’, Stallone made it known that his longstanding fallout with producer Irwin Winkler and creative differences over the direction that Jordan and writers Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin, wanted to explore in the threequel meant he would not appear in the project.
“That is a regretful situation because I know what it could have been. It was taken in a direction that is quite different than I would have taken it,” Stallone told The Hollywood Reporter last year.
“It is a different philosophy – Irwin Winkler’s and Michael B. Jordan’s. I wish them well, but I am much more of a sentimentalist. I like my heroes getting beat up, but I just don’t want them going into that dark space. I just feel people have enough darkness,” he added.
Along with Winkler, the actor established the ‘Rocky’ series in 1976. Soon after the film's premiere, Stallone reportedly sold Winkler the intellectual rights to the franchise.
Stallone discussed his attempts to reclaim some of his rights in the five-decade-old cult film in the THR interview.
“It’s never gonna happen. It was a deal that was done unbeknownst to me by people that I thought were close to me, and they basically gave away whatever rights I would have had,” he said.
“At the time, I was so excited to be working, and I did not understand this is a business. Who knew Rocky would go on for another 45 years?
"I have never used one [line of dialogue] from anyone else – and the irony is that I do not own any of it. The people who have done literally nothing control it. – The Vibes, March 10, 2023
