Champion ‘Creed III’ sets sports movie record

MGM’s “Creed III” is the new heavyweight champion at the domestic box office, knocking out Disney and Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” last weekend with $58.7 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.

MGM reports that the latest installment in the “Creed” franchise has scored the biggest domestic opening of all time for a sports movie, surpassing 2015’s “Creed” ($29.6 million), 2018’s “Creed II” ($35.6 million), all of the “Rocky” films and the previous record holder, 2010’s “Karate Kid” ($55.7 million).

“For many franchises, the law of diminishing returns applies,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, said in a statement, “but ‘Creed’ is a welcome exception and the continued interest and excitement that moviegoers have for this character and these films that are generational and spiritual successors to the ‘Rocky’ brand, one that started almost 50 years ago, is quite remarkable.”

Directed by Michael B. Jordan, “Creed III” stars Jordan and Jonathan Majors as childhood friends-turned-boxing foes. (Majors, who also plays the villain in “Quantumania,” appears in the No. 1 and No. 2 titles at the domestic box office last weekend.)

Among the main cast of Jordan’s feature directorial debut are Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu and Phylicia Rashad. The boxing drama received a stellar 87% fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and an A-minus from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

“This is beyond all of our expectations. And we knew that we had something special — we tested the movie and it tested great, but the public responded so resoundingly to it,” said Erik Lomis, MGM’s head of distribution. “Everything went right here starting with the movie itself … It was just up to us not to break it when they gave it to us and we didn’t.”

Audiences gave “Creed III” an A- CinemaScore. Those who saw the film were largely male (63%), diverse (36% Black, 28% Hispanic, 23% white and 13% Asian/other) and young (55% between 18 and 34) according to exit polls.

Over 80% of general audiences said the film was a “definite recommend.” With Black audiences, that number ballooned to 89%.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and that’s rarefied air,” Lomis said. “People love the movie.”

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. Internationally, “Creed III” earned $41.8 million from 75 markets, making its global debut $100.4 million.

Rounding out the top five at the domestic box office last weekend are were “Quantumania,” which picked up $12.5 million in its third weekend for a North American cumulative of $186.8 million; Universal Pictures’ “Cocaine Bear,” which devoured $11 million in its second weekend for a North American haul of $41.3 million; Crunchyroll Studios’ “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — to the Swordsmith Village,” which premiered with $10.1 million; and Lionsgate’s “Jesus Revolution,” which added $8.7 million in its second weekend for a North American cumulative of $30.5 million.

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

“Amazon threw their weight behind this movie as only they can do,” Lomis said. “They supercharged the campaign with marketing support across all their verticals on the platform and beyond the platform. That shows a commitment to the theatrical business model from Amazon and MGM, which I think should be exciting to everybody.”

The company’s next major theatrical release is the Ben Affleck-directed “Air,” starring Matt Damon and coming out next month.

Opening outside of the top five were Guy Ritchie’s “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre,” a spy caper with Jason Statham, Hugh Grant and Aubrey Plaza that made $3.2 million from 2,168 locations last 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 coming in March, including “John Wick Chapter 4” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.”

“We’re going to have an incredible March,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s going to feel more like summer than spring with hits coming one after the next that will create incredible momentum for the summer movie season.”

Opening in wide release this next weekend are Columbia Pictures’ “65,” Focus Features’ “Champions” and Paramount Pictures’ “Scream VI.”

Jonathan Majors stars as Damian Anderson in “Creed III,” which came in at No. 1 for the week with $58.7 million. The film now holds the record for largest opening of a sports movie.