‘Creed III’ strikes overweight and tops the domestic box office for its first weekend

“Creed III” played 4,007 locations in North America and earned an estimated $58.7 million in ticket sales, according to the studio’s estimates as of Sunday. At the start of the weekend, analysts were expecting the film to start in the $30 million range. The first Creed debuted in 2015 at $29 million and Creed II launched in 2018 at $35 million.

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 is the first in the Rocky/Creed films not to star Sylvester Stallone, who chose not to return due to creative differences.

“It exceeds all of our expectations. And we knew we had something special – we screened the film and it was great, but the public’s response to it was so overwhelming,” said Erik Lomis, MGM’s director of distribution. “Everything fell into place here, starting with the film itself… It was just up to us not to break it when they gave it to us, and we didn’t.”

Strong reviews helped Creed III, which currently sits at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it an A-CinemaScore. According to Exit Polls, the audience was predominantly male (63%), diverse (36% Black, 28% Latino, 23% White and 13% Asian/Other) and young (55% 18-34).

Over 80% of the general audience said the film was a “Definite Recommendation”. For black audiences, that number rose to 89%.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and this is rarefied air,” Lomis said. “People love the film.”

It’s also the most expensive “Creed” film with a reported production budget of $75 million compared to the others costing $35 million and $50 million. Internationally, “Creed III” earned $41.8 million in 75 markets and made its worldwide debut with $100.4 million.

It’s a big moment for Amazon, which acquired MGM for $8.5 billion last year and could just release Creed III on its streaming service with a limited theatrical run. But they chose theater, and it paid off.

“Amazon got behind this film as only they can,” said Lomis. “They supercharged the campaign with marketing support across all of their verticals on and off the platform. It shows a commitment to Amazon and MGM’s theatrical business model, which I think should be exciting for everyone.”

The company’s next big theatrical release is the Ben Affleck-directed Air, starring Matt Damon, which comes out next month.

Ant-Man 3 slipped to a distant second place in its third weekend in theaters with $12.5 million from North America and $22 million internationally. The Marvel and Disney film’s worldwide gross is now $419.5 million.

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

Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Swordsmith Village took fourth place with $10.1 million. The series is based on Koyoharu Gotoge’s manga about a boy who avenges his family.

Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company’s Jesus Revolution rounded out the top five at $8.7 million. The 1970s film, starring Kelsey Grammer as Pastor, grossed $30.5 million in theaters over two weekends on a $15 million production budget.

Outside of the top five, Guy Ritchie launched Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, a spying operation starring Jason Statham, Hugh Grant and Aubrey Plaza that grossed $3.2 million from 2,168 locations this weekend. The film, originally an STX release, was in distribution limbo for some time. Lionsgate recently stepped in to oversee the domestic rollout.

The success of Creed III bodes well for other releases in March, including John Wick Chapter 4 and Shazam! Wrath of the gods.”

“We’re going to have an incredible March,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “It will feel more like summer than spring, with hits coming one after the other, which will create incredible momentum for the summer movie season.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday in US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, with Wednesday through Sunday in parentheses. The final domestic figures will be released on Monday.

1. “Creed III”, $58.7 million. 2. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”, $12.5 million. 3. “Cocaine Bear”, $11 million. 4. “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Swordsmith Village”, $10.1 million. 5. “Jesus Revolution”, $8.7 million. 6. “Avatar: The Way of Water,” $3.6 million. 7. “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre”, $3.2 million. 8. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” $2.7 million. 9. “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” $1.2 million. 10. “80 for Brady,” $845,000.

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