Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut,Creed III, will dethrone last week’s number one filmAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniafrom the top spot at the weekend box office. The phenomenally well-reviewed threequel made $5.4 million from Wednesday and Thursday previews, of which 74% came from Thursday. This positions the film to claim the top spot in its debut weekend, and easily out-gross both of its predecessors.
The film wasprojected to grossat least $36 million in its first weekend, with the higher end of projections pegged at $40 million.Creed IIIremains on track to hit that number, which would put it ahead of the firstCreed’s $29.6 million three-day debut in 2015, andCreed II’s $35.5 million opening weekend in 2018. While the firstCreedmade $1.4 million in Tuesday previews before debuting on Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving weekend,Creed IIlaunched with $3.7 million, also on a Tuesday, and also ahead of Thanksgiving.Creedfinished its five-day opening weekend with $42 million, while the sequel made $56 million across five days.
BothCreedandCreed II— which served as spinoffs to the Rocky franchise and also featuredSylvester Stalloneas the iconic fighter — debuted to ecstatic critical and fan reception, as has the third film.Creed IIIpits Jordan’s Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, against his childhood buddy Damien, played by the so-hot-right-nowJonathan Majors. Incidentally, this sets up an interesting box office bout between two of his movies this weekend, both of which also happen to be threequels.
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Speaking of which,Ant-Manis expected to gross between $16 million and $19 million in its third weekend, after topping the box office two weekends in a row. Although it did register a franchise-worst drop in its sophomore frame. By now, it’s clear that the big-budget superhero sequel isn’t quite performing at the level we’ve come to expect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film’s running domestic total is yet to crack $180 million, and is hovering under $400 million globally. Also in the running is Universal’sCocaine Bear, which added $1.48 million on Thursday. The action-comedy romp has so far grossed $30 million domestically, after finishing second in its debut weekend. Last week’sover-performerJesus Revolutiongrossed $1.3 million on Thursday, whileAvatar: The Way of Watermade $361,000 as it enters its 12th week.
After playing in several international territories earlier this year, directorGuy Ritchie’sOperation Fortune: Ruse de Guerrewas also released this week. The film is bowing in over 2,000 domestic theaters, where it is expected to gross in the single-digits over the weekend.Operation Fortune, a caper film starringJason StathamandAubrey Plaza, has already made $30 million from overseas territories. Crunchyroll’sDemon Slayer Into the Swordsmith Villageis debuting in over 1,700 theaters, but the film hasn’t been allotted any IMAX or Premium High Format screens, all of which have gone toCreed III.
you’re able to watch our interview with Jordan here, and stay tuned to Collider for more box office updates over the weekend.
