What we know about the hotly anticipated ‘Creed II’

FANS of the Rocky franchise, sports movies and Michael B Jordan finally have the trailer for Creed II to dissect and watch on repeat.

The promo was released last week and, clocking in at just under two minutes, it’s jammed pack with scenes that all lead up to the mic-drop moment: Adonis Creed (Jordan) will face off with the son of Ivan Drago, the antagonist in Rocky IV.

The most recent instalment in the series, Creed, was a box-office and critical success and was Jordan’s first time fronting a major studio movie. He’s back, and so are Sylvester Stallone and Tessa Thompson.

Here’s what we know about the movie so far:

Ryan Coogler, the writer-director behind past collaborations with Jordan (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther and Creed), is not directly involved with this latest instalment.

Creed II is directed by Steven Caple jr, who came on board after Stallone initially announced he would direct.

The studio and Stallone announced back in January 2016 that they were going to make a sequel to Creed, but that the timing with Coogler and his Black Panther duties may create a scheduling conflict: “I know Ryan is probably going to be gone for a couple years,” Stallone says. “So there will be a quandary on: Do we work with another director and have Ryan produce, or do we wait? There’s a diminishing time acceptance of a sequel. Now they are cranking them out in a year.”

MGM had hoped to release Creed II in 2017, which meant Coogler was out of the running.

In February, Coogler told Variety that while it could have been “possible” for him to also direct

Creed II, timing got in the way – but the franchise is still personal for him.

“Creed was about my dad and me, so it’s a movie I find difficult to watch.

“It’s difficult for me to even think about it, I’ve got so many emotional ties to it, not to mention how much I care about the people involved,” he said, mentioning Jordan, Thompson and Stallone.

“These are people that I wanna see do well and win at all costs,” he added. “There’s timing, and that film had to go when it’s going. I think it’s a blessing it’s going, man. It’s amazing that they found an incredible filmmaker in Steven Caple jr, who’s a guy I actually went to film school with.”

Fervent Michael B. Jordan Instagram story followers already know that the actor has been training hard, even in the middle of his promotional duties for Black Panther.