Creed III | 2023 | PG-13 | – 3.5.5

Why is “Creed III” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “intense sports action, violence and some strong language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene, a few kisses, a fight scene involving teens and a gun is drawn, a fight that leads to a boxer being badly injured, many boxing sequences that include some bloody facial injuries, a couple of training montages, many arguments, and at least 1 F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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After retiring from boxing, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) runs a successful gym training up-and-coming fighters. However, when a friend (Jonathan Majors) from his past returns, revealing parts of his past he’s always kept hidden, his success is threatened. Also with Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Phylicia Rashad, Mila Davis-Kent, Jose Benavidez, Selenis Leyva, Florian Munteanu, Thaddeus J. Mixson and Spence Moore II. Directed by Jordan. Several lines of dialogue are signed in American Sign Language and several lines are spoken in Spanish with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:56]

Creed III SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A man lifts his shirt to reveal his bare abdomen while flirting with his wife and making suggestive remarks; they kiss in a chair and he puts her onto the floor as the scene ends (sex is implied). A husband and his wife kiss in a few scenes.
► A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage and partial breasts. A photo of a young woman wearing a bikini hangs on a wall in a teen boy’s room (we see cleavage, and her bare abdomen and legs to the hips). Women wear low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in several scenes. A woman wears a top that reveals her bare back and shoulders. A singer on stage wears a dress that reveals cleavage. Two women standing in a boxing ring wear outfits that reveal cleavage, abdomens and legs to the upper thighs in a few scenes. A man’s shirt is open and we see his bare chest and abdomen. Many boxing sequences show shirtless boxers and their bare shoulders, chests, abdomens and backs are seen.

Creed III VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A man gets into a fight at a party and a man is struck hard on the arm with a nightstick (we hear that he is in the hospital with broken bones later). Two boxers fight in a ring and many heavy punches land, including illegal punches and one man spits blood in a bucket; one boxer grazes the other on the cheek with his elbow and he bleeds (we see a wound), one spits blood and a tooth into a bucket, and a very heavy punch is thrown and a boxer falls to the mat with blood on his face and chest and he seems dazed and unable to get back up. Boxers fight in a ring and each are pinned against the ropes a couple of times leading to bloody faces and heavy punches landing; one man imagines being pressed against the bars of a jail cell, many punches land and they each spit blood; one man is punched hard in the abdomen and falls to his knee (he gets back up). Boxers in a ring fight with heavy punches landing loudly; one fighter is hit hard in the face and falls to the mat dazed. A boxing match shows two fighters punching each other, and one boxer is struck three times hard in the body and face.
► A teen boy punches a man in the face, the man falls to the ground and the teen punches him repeatedly until other men pull him away and a young man approaches them all holding a gun; the police arrive and the teen runs away. Two men argue in a few scenes and in one scene one man calls the other a disparaging name and punches him (we see blood on his eye). Two boxers spar in a ring and one punches the other in the shoulder and arm causing him pain; they argue and shove each other, as other people outside the ring argue about the one boxer’s bad behavior. A young girl takes another young girl’s painting in school and tears it in half; the other girl punches the bully hard in the face.
► A boxer enters an arena and is booed by the crowd, another boxer enters spraying colorful smoke in the air and his entourage wears masks of beasts and skulls. A man talks about getting into a fight when he was younger and that he pulled a gun and ended up in prison (we see a flashback to the incident a couple of times). A teen boy finds a gun in a young man’s duffle bag.
► A husband and his wife argue and the man later throws a glass and it shatters. Two men argue in several scenes and in one scene one man tells the other man to leave a gym and not return. We understand that a woman has had a stroke in the recent past and she insists that she will not leave her home. A woman says, “I am not having another stroke tonight.” Two men talk about their time in a group home and one mentions bedbugs. A woman tells her husband that he was grinding his teeth in his sleep. A woman says that a man is “fighting the world.” A man mocks another man and tells him to “run away.” A man tells a fighter, “Be ferocious.”
► There are several training montages with men lifting heavy weights and pulling heavy things up hills. We understand that a woman dies from a stroke and we see men carrying a coffin. A young girl tickles her father’s nose and ear then jumps on him to wake him up. A man puts a lot of hot sauce on a plate of food. A boxer spits out his mouth guard after a fight and we see saliva and blood.

Creed III LANGUAGE 5

 – About 1 F-word (in song lyrics), 10 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, 8 derogatory terms for Black people (in song lyrics), name-calling (chump, chip on his shoulder, coward, fraud, you’re old, mad, Don King, baby Creed, boy, beast, little homey, soft, bad blood, common folk, domesticated, you’re the worst), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, thank God, God bless you). | profanity glossary |

Creed III SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman takes a prescription pill. A woman drinks a glass of wine and pours some for another woman, two men drink brandy, and people at a beach party are shown drinking.

Creed III DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Boxing, retirement, grudges, revenge, restored citizens, strokes, group homes, giving up something you love, manhood, moving on, dreams, success, responsibility, forgiveness, bullying, defending yourself, family.

Creed III MESSAGE

 – Try to be happy about what you have.