Rocky who? Creed III knocked Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania right out of the top spot at the box office with an impressive three-day opening weekend of $58.7 million.
Still dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is thriving in his career and family life. When Damian, a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy (Jonathan Majors) resurfaces after serving time in prison, he’s eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter who has nothing to lose.
This is the ninth film in the Rocky franchise, the directorial debut of Michael B. Jordan, and the first Rocky feature without an onscreen role for Sylvester Stallone, due to a long-running feud he has with producer Irwin Winkler. The film also stars Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu, and Phylicia Rashad.
Both critics and audiences have been going bananas over Creed III, with the critics’ score of 87% fresh and an audience score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Creed III is the top-earning film of the three Creed films, which have increased in revenue with each movie released. Creed III’s $58.7 million surpassed Creed’s $30 million in 2015 and Creed II’s $36 million in 2018, just as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s $107 million beat out the first Ant-Man’s $57 million in 2015 and Ant-Man and the Wasp’s $76 million in 2018.
Quantumania, in its third week at the box office, dropped 61% from last weekend, earning just $12.5 million with a domestic total of $186,799,000 cumulative. Universal’s Cocaine Bear fell 53% after its strong debut last week earning $11 million, moving from #2 to the #3 spot on the top ten list.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — To the Swordsmith Village opened in 4th place with $10.1 million. The latest anime feature from Crunchyroll/Sony is three movies in one, consisting of the 10th and 11th episodes of the Entertainment District story arc and the 1st episode of the Swordsmith Village story arc. The anime films knocked Lionsgate’s Jesus Revolution from 3rd place to the #5 spot after suffering a 46% drop.
For an incredible 12 weeks, Avatar: The Way of Water, has been on the box office top ten list, this week at #6 with a weekend box office gross of $3.6 million and a current domestic total of $670,632,000.
The third new wide-release movie this weekend was Lionsgate’s Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre, which opened at #7, earning just over $3 million. In this film, written and directed by Guy Ritchie, super spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) must track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology wielded by billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Reluctantly teamed with some of the world’s best operatives (Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone), Fortune and his crew recruit Hollywood’s biggest movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett) to help them on their globe-trotting undercover mission to save the world.
Critics have panned Operation Fortune, giving it a rating of 52% rotten, however, moviegoers have been positive, giving it an 84% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, and 80 for Brady are slipping down the list, but are still holding on strong. Puss in Boots has been in theaters for 11 weeks now, and has had a really impressive run earning $177,128,000 domestic so far, while Magic Mike has only been in theaters for 4 weeks and is already down to #9 earning just over $1 million this weeked and $25 million cumulative domestic.
REELated: What are the critics saying about Creed III?
1. Creed III (MGM) NEW – Cinemascore: A-; Metacritic: 74; Est. budget: $75 million
$58,658,000 in 4,007 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $14,639; Cumulative: $58,658,000
2. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Disney) Week 3; Last weekend #1
$12,471,000 (-61%) in 3,835 theaters (-520); PTA: $3,260; Cumulative: $186,799,000
3. Cocaine Bear (Universal) Week 2; Last weekend #2
$11,020,000 (-53%) in 3,571 (+37) theaters; PTA: $3,086; Cumulative: $41,288,000
4. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — To the Swordsmith Village (Crunchyroll) NEW – Cinemascore: B+;
$10,117,000 in 1,774 theaters; PTA: $5,703; Cumulative: $10,117,000
5. Jesus Revolution (Lionsgate) Week 2; Last weekend #3
$8,650,000 (-46%) in 2,575 (+100) theaters; PTA: $3,359; Cumulative: $30,541,000
6. Avatar: The Way of Water (Disney) Week 12; Last weekend #4
$3,578,000 (-26%) in 2,300 (-195) theaters; PTA: $1,556; Cumulative: $670,632,000
7. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guere (Lionsgate) NEW – Cinemascore: B+; Metacritic: 51; Est. budget: $50 million
$3,160,000 in 2,168 theaters; PTA: $1,458; Cumulative: $3,160,000
8. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Universal) Week 11; Last weekend #5; also on PVOD
$2,720,000 (-34%) in 2,588 (-252) theaters; PTA: $1,051; Cumulative: $177,128,000
9. Magic Mike’s Last Dance (WBD) Week 4; Last weekend #6
$1,180,000 (-59%) in 1,737 (-1,181) theaters; PTA: $679; Cumulative: $25,363,000
10. 80 for Brady (Paramount) Week 5; Last weekend #8
$845,000 (-56%) in 1,495 (-902) theaters; PTA: $565; Cumulative: $38,818,000
