Four HBCUs got the surprise of a lifetime. To promote his upcoming film Creed III—the first film he has directed—Jordan visited Morehouse College, Spelman College, Morris Brown College and Clark Atlanta University and gifted each university’s students a first glance at the new film’s trailer.
Creed III‘s Twitter account has a clip of the surprise, which only showed Morehouse, Clark Atlanta and Spelman. Jordan had food trucks sent to the school to pass out brown bags with food and a ticket to see the trailer.
AMC theaters were packed with HBCU students awaiting to see the trailer way before the world did. A woman presenter is seen at the front of the theater with a few director’s chairs set up. Upon introducing Michael B. Jordan, students screamed in excitement as the Creed III director emerged from hiding and in front of the students.
The clip cuts to Jordan announcing another surprise he had waiting for a lucky college student—financial assistance.
“I know how tough it is to be a young creator,” the actor told the audience. “So, I’m going to pull a couple of names, and I’m going to give $3,000 to your education.”
The winner was a Spelman student who said the $3,000 would cover all her student debt.
Before the clip ended, Jordan surprised the students with tickets to the Creed III premiere.
#AUCMBJEvent 🥊 @michaelb4jordan surprised students at HBCUs in Atlanta with an exclusive first look at the new trailer for #Creed3. Thank you to the AUC! To support any of these HBCUs please consider donating here: @CAU @Morehouse @SpelmanCollege @1881MorrisBrown pic.twitter.com/AfSeXaFEpL
— #CREED3 (@creedmovie) October 18, 2022
Before the encounter with the Atlanta HBCUs, Jordan did a press conference where he explained his reasoning for premiering the trailer to Atlanta HBCU students.
“We’re talking about where you come from in this movie, and we’re talking a lot about your past and this pivotal moment sometimes of when you’re growing and evolving,” the Black Panther actor said. “I feel like college in general is…I never went, but obviously, my family and friends and just understanding what the HBCU culture does to incubate Black excellence and how we…it’s where it’s nurtured and grown and developed. It’s a pivotal time for these students of who they were going into college and who they’re becoming and who will they be when they leave when they go off into the world, and it’s a lot of things that are going on in this movie that I feel like would help them have some clarity and relate to.”
He continued, “Sometimes tough decisions that you have to go through as an adult. And it’s okay. You’re going to be all right, you’re going to get through it, so it’s really important for me to get this movie to HBCUs. But then, also just a representation. I want to be able to help them to see themselves on screen in a really big way and whatever I can do to help ingrain that and be around and be a part and just be of service…being present with something that I wanted to do.”
Creed III hits theaters on March 3, 2023.
