Michael B. Jordan will direct “Creed IV.”
The 36-year-old actor made his behind-the-scenes debut with “Tenet III,” which grossed more than $275 million worldwide after its release in March and whose producer Irwin Winkler has confirmed the film is in development On the sequel, bosses want the star to return to the helm because he did such a good job last time.
Speaking at Deadline’s Deadline Film Challenger Series Los Angeles event, Owen said: “We’re working on Creed IV. We have a really good story and plot. We were delayed a little bit because of the strike, but within a year We’re going into pre-production.”
He confirmed that Michael – who plays the lead role of Adonis Creed in the series – will return to direct, saying: “He will. He’s doing a great job and he’s happy with the footage.”
Producing partner Elizabeth Raposo added: “(We’re) delighted the film has been successful and people want to see more.”
The film series is a spin-off of the “Rocky” film series, which has grossed more than $663 million at the global box office to date.
For this reason, Owen praised the series’ “beautiful vision” for staying connected to the “Rocky” world while offering “a new and different experience.”
Speaking about Creed III, he said: “Michael and the creative team had a great vision from the beginning to create a new and different experience for the film. It had to be firmly rooted in the roots of what we learned from Creed movie. And Rocky…it had to have big action, boxing, but we also really examined the type of movie we were making. A lot of that, the first few days with Michael, we spent A lot of time went into how we saw Damian’s character in the film, “so I think everyone responded to the depth, not just on the page but on the screen.” You spend half the time feeling deep sympathy for him and understanding his vulnerability. “