“The Creedmunity will not be silenced.”

You may have heard about Creed, a forthcoming Rocky spin-off in which Sylvester Stallone reprises the role of boxer Rocky Balboa and trains the son of Apollo Creed, his rival in the first two films of the saga. Well, so has the dedicated fanbase of Christian rock band Creed, and they don’t like it one bit.

The media attention on the forthcoming movie has made it difficult for the “Creedmunity” to follow news of the band in Google searches and social media, and as a result one fan has started a Change.org petition to get movie studio MGM to change the name of the film.

“The movie Creed about the son of Rocky Balboa’s deceased trainer’s son, is making it difficult, if not impossible, for the still-vital online Creed fanbase to exchange thoughts and discussion regarding band developments, song interpretation, rumors, non-erotic fanfiction, and deeper insights into the expanded Creed universe,” writes petition organiser Nick Robinson.

“MGM has completely disrespected the Creedmunity by using the name of the still-popular band for their non-Creed related movie and have been stifling conversation by flooding social media hashtags and searches with non-music Creed discussion. MGM should have consulted Creed experts and online leaders before titling this movie.”

We’d take this petition with a pinch of salt – it’s only looking for 100 signatures, and some of the alternative names suggested surely have to be a joke. As well as Boxer Creed, Rocky: The Next Generation and Apollo Creed’s Son there’s Creed (not the band).

The petition warns that if the studio doesn’t change the title, “no self-respecting Creed fan will EVER see this movie, not even on bootleg”. MGM should probably take it seriously regardless – if there’s one thing you don’t want, it’s the combined weight of America’s Christian community boycotting your film.

Watch the trailer for Creed below. [H/T Ned Raggett]