Michael B. Jordan stars, Stallone returns as mentor in Rocky spinoff 'Creed'

The four-decade-old-series featuring fictional heavy-weight champion of the world Rocky Balboa will return to cinemas in November with the seventh movie in the franchise. The spin-off titled Creed, will star Michael B. Jordan in lead role, but Sylvester Stallone will also reprise his part as Rocky. The first trailer of the movie was released recently shedding light on the details of the story.

Creed is the next movie in the boxing franchise, which will follow Adonis Creed (played by Jordan) the son of Rocky's rival-turned-friend Apollo Creed at the start of his boxing career. Adonis, who was too young to have known his father before he died in 1985, travels to Philadelphia to meet Rocky Balboa and asks the legendary boxer to train him.

The trailer of the new movie maintains a gritty realism, while making references to the previous movies. Creed looks to capture the feeling of the original Rocky movies and by the looks of it, the film will involve deep character building and a gripping story culminating in major box fight.

Based on the timing of the movie (premiering on the 25th November) perhaps it will even be looking to grab some awards next year. Although Stallone is not typically award-material, it is true that Rocky was the only movie he received significant nominations for, as he was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe and a BAFTA award for Best Actor (he didn't win any of them).

Taking into account all this, Michael B. Jordan definitely has big shoes to fill in the movie as the 28-year-old actor keeps growing his career. The American actor started his Hollywood path at the age of 12 taking on small roles, like a teenage drug dealer in The Wire and a troubled youngster in All My Children. His breakthrough appearance came in 2009, when he starred in the NBC drama Friday Night Lights.

He's been considered as a face of the future since then and appeared in movies such as Chronicle (2012) and Fruitvale Station (2013). For his acting in the latter he was even dubbed as the young Denzel Washington. 2015 will see Jordan rise even further as he will be appearing in the Fantastic Four remake and Rocky spin-off as well.