'Creed 2' Targets November 2017

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Studio maps ‘Rocky’ road that it hopes will put sequel in theaters two years after ‘Creed’ (Photo: Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

By Ramin Setoodeh

MGM is eyeing a November 2017 release date for the sequel to Creed, Variety has learned.

That would allow the film to open exactly two years after the first chapter starring Michael B. Jordan hit theaters. The Warner Bros. release has gone on to gross more than $105 million at the domestic box office and land Sylvester Stallone a Golden Globe for best supporting actor. “That’s my goal,” MGM CEO Gary Barber told Variety on Sunday night at the Golden Globes of his release plan, adding that the date hasn’t been set in stone yet.

Related: Sylvester Stallone Says ‘Creed’ Sequel Could Reunite Rocky and Apollo (EXCLUSIVE)

If the movie does come out that soon, it could mean that Ryan Coogler — who is in talks to direct Marvel’s Black Panther — might not be able to return as director.

In a recent cover story with Variety, Stallone alluded to the possibility that Coogler would be an executive producer of the second Creed due to scheduling. “I know Ryan is going to be gone for a couple years,” Stallone said. “There’s a diminishing time acceptance of a sequel.”

Stallone also revealed a potential plot line of the film, which could be set in the past and feature the return of Carl Weathers as the late Apollo Creed. “Ryan has some ideas of going forward and backward and actually seeing Rocky and Apollo together,” Stallone said. “Think of The Godfather 2. That’s what he was thinking of, which was kind of ambitious.”

Watch Michael B. Jordan talk connecting with Sylvester Stallone on ‘Creed’: