Credit: Netflix

A boxing franchise returning to Netflix in 2026 probably shouldn’t sound that exciting, and yet the arrival of the Creed trilogy next month has got people talking again. Maybe it’s the nostalgia factor, and we believe it is that. But it could also be the fact that it’s a sports drama which keeps finding new fans every few years.

So when Sylvester Stallone first brought Rocky Balboa to cinemas back in 1976, nobody expected the franchise to still be throwing punches nearly fifty years later. Yet here we are, and the Creed trilogy is coming to Netflix on June 1st. Not bad for a series that started with a low-budget boxing drama written by Stallone while he was struggling to make rent. So mad, right?

The Creed films took the Rocky universe and gave it fresh blood through Adonis Creed, played by Michael B. Jordan. Adonis is the son of Apollo Creed, Rocky’s former rival and close friend, and the trilogy follows his rise through the boxing world while dealing with the pressure attached to his family name. Bit of a nightmare inheritance, really. Imagine trying to build your own career while everyone keeps comparing you to a legend. Woosh!

The first film was released in 2015, and it arrived with low expectations from plenty of fans who thought the Rocky franchise had already said everything it needed to say. Then director Ryan Coogler turned up and completely revived the series. Instead of recycling old ideas, Creed focused on mentorship and legacy. Rocky had aged, and Adonis had something to prove. The film earned more than $170 million worldwide from a budget of around $35 million, while Stallone got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Not bad going for a character many assumed had already retired years earlier.

Then came Creed II in 2018, which brought the franchise full circle by revisiting one of the darkest moments in Rocky history. Adonis faces Viktor Drago, the son of Ivan Drago, the boxer responsible for Apollo Creed’s death in Rocky IV. That made it a film about redemption and revenge. But it also gives Dolph Lundgren far more emotional material than fans expected. Creed II ended up becoming the highest-grossing film in the franchise at the time, pulling in over $214 million globally.

By the time Creed III made it to the cinemas, Stallone had stopped appearing on screen, though he still remained attached as a producer. Michael B. Jordan took over directing duties for the third film, making it his directorial debut. It was a huge risk without Stallone’s screen presence and Jordan making his directorial debut with a massively loved franchise. Instead, Creed III became another huge success, earning more than $275million worldwide. That pushed the trilogy’s total box office earnings beyond $660million.

Another reason the trilogy matters so much comes down to what it did for legacy sequels. Before Creed, plenty of older franchises were being revived for nostalgia factor. In fact, we are watching that happen in recent times, too. However, it is very rare that a sequel or a spin-off performs as well as the original, and that makes Creed one of the few successful ones.

Creed proved studios could continue a classic story while building new stars and new themes around it. Ryan Coogler went from directing Creed to making Black Panther for Marvel, while Michael B. Jordan cemented himself as one of Hollywood’s biggest leading men and even won an Oscar this year.

And now Netflix subscribers are getting the full trilogy in one go, which means for the next few weeks, we’ll be watching Jordan and Stallone dominating the Netflix movie charts. Are you ready for that?