Sylvester Stallone will be returning to the big screen to portray "The Italian Stallion" Rocky Balboa for the seventh time...but this time only in a supporting role. Instead, the focus will be on the grandson of Apollo Creed, in a film that will be aptly titled "Creed."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Creed" was earmarked as a TV series for some time, but somewhere along the line it seems to have been upgraded to a full-fledged feature film. Michael B. Jordan, who will be seen in next year's dreaded "Fantastic Four" reboot, has been tapped to take the title role in "Creed." The film will be directed by Ryan Coogler, who guided Jordan in the celebrated "Fruitvale Station."

Furthermore, it appears that real-deal boxers Andre Ward and Tony Bellow are now in negotiations to join the film in unspecified roles. My (educated) guess is that they will play grandson Creed's rival fighters.

The plan is for lensing on "Creed" to begin in January, which insinuates the film could be ready to go before the end of 2015.

My take on this is that it would be much more interesting if they focused on a young Apollo Creed (i.e., how did Apollo become "The Master of Disaster" that we see in 1976) and made this a prequel to "Rocky" with the film ending right after Apollo makes the fateful decision to fight Rocky.

Now tell me, who wouldn't watch that movie?