Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan revitalized the Rocky franchise in a surprise way in 2015 with Creed. The movie introduced Apollo Creed’s son, Adonis, and showed his ascension through the boxing scene with Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) by his side. The movie was a huge success, launching an entire trilogy based around Adonis.
2023 brought the third installment of the series, with it taking the series almost completely separating itself from the Rocky films by not having Stallone return. Jordan directed and starred in Creed III, which received very strong reviews and made $276 million at the box office, a record high for the trilogy.
Unsurprisingly, Amazon MGM and Jordan have teased plans for more, including a TV show and Creed 4. What most might not know (or remember) is that a fourth Creed movie already came out.
A Creed Anime Short-Film Also Came Out In 2023
In addition to releasing Creed 3 in 2023, the sports franchise expanded into anime with a short film. Creed: Shinjidai focuses on three young boxers in a cosmic adventure where they have to work together to become stronger. Jordan, who is a self-proclaimed huge anime fan, worked with Amazon MGM and the team behind Megalobox to make the short film a reality.
Creed: Shinjidai was originally announced in May 2023 as a special bonus attachment to the Japan release of Creed 3. Jordan revealed its existence on Instagram and wrote, “We made a special anime as a surprise for Japanese fans that will play at the end of the film.”
However, Amazon MGM later announced that it would also come to US theaters for a limited time, playing ahead of screenings of Bottoms at the Los Angeles location for Alamo Drafthouse for one week only.
This gave a narrow opportunity for anyone to watch the anime Creed movie. You either needed to see Creed 3 in Japan or at one specific location in Los Angeles. But, it was expected that the short film would eventually find its way in front of more people’s eyes, whether through streaming or as a special feature on Creed 3‘s home video release.
It’s Impossible To Watch Creed: Shinjidai
Shockingly, that was not the case. There has never been a wider release of Creed: Shinjidai since then. You’ll be hard-pressed to find any information about it online, either. Images of the short film or even more definitive descriptions of what happens in the interplanetary boxing story are nowhere to be found.
It’s a strange development for Creed: Shinjidai, considering Jordan publicly announced its presence with the Japan release. Amazon going as far as putting it in limited US theaters put it on more people’s radars. It appeared the studio and franchise star were prepared to promote it, and ultimately want the short to be seen by anyone who has an interest.
Instead, the anime-inspired sequences in Creed 3 remain the closest most have come to seeing anime enter the Creed franchise. It remains to be seen if the short will ever receive a proper release or continue to be a piece of lost media.
- Created by
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Ryan Coogler
- Latest Film
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Creed III
- Movie(s)
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Creed, Creed II, Creed III