CREED III opens March 3rd

Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors, two of the brightest rising stars in Hollywood, will face off in the boxing ring when the highly anticipated CREED III, opens in AMC Theatres nationwide in March 2023. The movie, which will see Jordan making his feature film directorial debut, as he steps behind the camera, will star the actor once again play boxing champion Adonis Creed as he deals with a familiar threat, his former best friend, Damien Anderson, played by Majors.

At AMC Theatres, and through the efforts of our Council on the AMC African American Experience, we aim to advocate for Black voices to be heard through a showcase of great films, documentaries, and specials. With that in mind, here is a breakdown of the career paths Jordan and Majors took in order to get to the physically-demanding and emotional CREED III.

Michael B. Jordan’s Continued On-Screen Success

Michael B. Jordan had already started to build a name for himself by the time he was cast in the lead role of Ryan Coogler’s 2013 biographical drama FRUITVALE STATION, but the young actor’s portrayal of the late Oscar Grant put him on a different level. Jordan’s brilliant and heartbreaking performance helped bring to life the story of the young man shot and killed by police at an Oakland public transit station on New Year’s Day 2009, and presented him as a real person opposed to a news headline.

The role would prove to be one of the most consequential in Jordan’s career, as it led to him collaborating with Coogler multiple times in the following years, including several of Jordan’s best movies. In 2015’s CREED, Jordan took on the role of Adonis Creed, a young, hungry, and talented boxer with one hell of a pedigree attempting to live outside the name and legacy of his late father, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). This emotionally-charged and incredibly physical performance helped breathe new life into the ROCKY franchise, creating something fresh and unique.

Then, in 2018, Jordan and Coogler would help reinvent the modern day comic book villain with Erik “Killmonger” Stevens in the MCU movie BLACK PANTHER. Though he was an admittedly evil person who would stop at nothing to achieve his goal, Killmonger, thanks to Jordan’s scene-stealing performance, could be viewed as a principled, motivated, and justified figure who was doing what he thought was best for his people, not just in Wakanda.

And Jordan hasn’t really slowed down since then, reprising his most famous roles in movies like CREED II and BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, while also branching out and showing the world that he can handle his own in a variety of dramatic roles as well. Whether he was playing a young and idealistic defense attorney in JUST MERCY or depicting a father writing words of wisdom for his son in A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN, Jordan has proven time and time again why he’s such an in-demand actor.

Jonathan Majors’ Quick Ascent

When it comes to actors who have quickly made a name for themselves as not only talented yet extremely engaging stars in a short amount of time, few, if any, compare to Jonathan Majors. Over the course of the past few years, Majors has gone from playing small roles in movies like HOSTILES and WHITE BOY RICK, to becoming what could very well be one of the all-time great Marvel villains with his portrayal of Kang the Conqueror in the upcoming ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA.

With unforgettable roles like Mont Allen in Joe Talbot’s 2019 directorial debut THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO, Davi in the 2020 Spike Lee Joint DA 5 BLOODS, and the cowboy Nat Love in Jeymes Samuel’s 2021 Western THE HARDER THEY FALL, it quickly became evident that Majors was a rising star.

And despite only appearing in the first season of “Loki'' for a very brief period of time, Majors’ portrayal of “He Who Remains” quickly became one of the most interesting things in the MCU upon the show’s release in 2021. The way in which Majors handled the role in that short amount of time was something that should be marveled, and left fans of the franchise excited to see what was in store with the debut of his more sinister and well-known variant, Kang the Conqueror.

Only time will tell where the next stages of Majors’ career will take the actor, but if the next five years is anything like the last, movie lovers are in for one heck of a ride.

Former Friends Facing Off In The Ring

When CREED III opens in March, it will see Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors take on what could be their most intense and taxing roles yet, as they play two childhood best friends who are unable to reconcile their differences and life decisions, and instead find themselves on a collision course.

Though he didn’t have the easiest of journeys to the top of the boxing world, Adonis Creed’s life experiences pale in comparison to those of Damien Anderson, who has spent the past 18 years of his life behind bars. When the pair finally do face off in the ring in an attempt to settle those differences and bring an end to their guilt and suffering, it will surely provide for the most intense and emotional fight of their lives, which is saying something considering the fights Adonis got through in CREED and CREED II. And if the boxing footage from the various CREED III trailers is any indication, this is going to be one no one will want to miss.

CREED III is yet another example of the type of movie and experience AMC seeks to bring to audiences through its African American Experience Council, a group that consistently sets out to empower and embrace initiatives that create a more modern, diverse, and accommodating movie destination.

CREED III opens March 3rd