Michael B. Jordan’s feature directorial debut “Creed III” is on track for a potential domestic box-office opening weekend high for the “Rocky” spinoff franchise.
The film is headed for a $38-40 million opening in 4,007 theaters. That’s ahead of the $29 million and $35.5 for the previous two films in 2015 and 2018. With a budget of $75 million, it should prove profitable for the distributor.
One key difference though – the other two were Thanksgiving openings and therefore opened on a Wednesday which undercut their Friday-Sunday totals. Their Wednesday-Sunday totals came in at $42 million and $56 million respectively.
Critics review-wise, the film is coming in at a very strong 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, below the first (95%) but above the second (83%). Both previous films scored an A CinemaScore.
Marking the first film in the “Rocky” franchise without its creator, Sylvester Stallone, the new film sees a time jump of five years ahead with Adonis Creed (Jordan) at a pivotal time well into his professional career.
He ends up facing off against a recently released from prison childhood friend named Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors) in the ring. Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu, and Felicia Rashad reprise their roles from earlier entries while Selenis Leyva, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Spence Moore II, Mila Davis-Kent, and Canelo Álvarez also star
Also opening are Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: To the Swordsmith Village” which is headed for a $7.5-10 million opening, and Guy Ritchie’s “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre” which is headed for around $5-6 million.
Source: Deadline
