A box office K.O.: ‘Creed III’ debuts to US$58.7 million

“Creed III” punched above its weight at the domestic box office in its first weekend in theatres. The MGM release knocked “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” out of first place and far surpassed both industry expectations and the opening weekends of the first two movies in the franchise.

Playing in 4,007 locations in North America, “Creed III” earned an estimated US$58 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Going into the weekend, analysts expected the film to open in the $30 million range. The first “Creed” debuted to $29 million in 2015 and “Creed II” opened to $35 million in 2018.

Michael B. Jordan made his directorial debut with “Creed III,” which pits his character Adonis against a childhood friend, Dame, played by Jonathan Majors. It’s the first in the Rocky/Creed films to not feature Sylvester Stallone, who chose not to return because of creative differences.

Strong reviews helped “Creed III,” which is currently sitting at an 87, diverse (36 per cent Black, 28 per cent Latino, 23 per cent white and 13 per cent Asian/other) and young (55 per cent between 18 and 34) according to exit polls.

It’s also the most expensive “Creed” film, with a reported production budget of $75 million, compared to the others which cost $35 million and $50 million.

“Ant-Man 3” slipped to a distant second in its third weekend in theatres.

Third place went to Universal’s ” Cocaine Bear,” which added $11 million in its second weekend in theatres to bring its domestic total to $41.3 million.

Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — To The Swordsmith Village” placed fourth with $10.1 million. The series is based on Koyoharu Gotoge’s manga about a boy avenging his family.

Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company’s “Jesus Revolution” rounded out the top five with $8.7 million. The film starring Kelsey Grammer as a pastor in the 1970s has made $30.5 million in two weekends in theatres against a $15 million production budget.