Creed III Set A Box Office Record For Rocky, All Without Sylvester Stallone

It was, to say the very least, one heck of a weekend at the box office. Michael B. Jordan not only stepped back in the ring as Adonis Creed for "Creed III," but he also directed the film, and did so without the presence of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. In the end, it didn't matter, as the third entry in the "Rocky" spin-off series set a franchise record, taking in $58.6 million in its opening weekend, per Box Office Mojo. That absolutely obliterated tracking ahead of the release — and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the good news for this movie.

The previous record for a movie in this franchise belongs to "Creed II," which took in $35.5 million back in 2018, on its way to $213.5 million worldwide. Meanwhile, the original "Creed" opened to $29.6 million with a $173.5 million finish back in 2015. The series continues to trend upward despite years between installments. Much of that is owed to stellar reviews this time around, with "Creed III" boasting a damn fine 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as an A- Cinemascore. This indicates word of mouth will be very strong in the coming weeks. You can read our review right here.

Internationally, things looked great as well, as the film took in $41.8 million, giving it a $100.4 million global debut. Just about the only thing working against this movie right now is the fact that it carries a somewhat hefty $75 million production budget (before marketing). That is quite a bit more than the previous entries in this series. Be that as it may, it's well on its way to profitability already.

The big question mark heading into the weekend was whether or not the lack of Stallone would have any negative impact. The actor has been the shepherd of "Rocky" since the original became a phenomenon in 1976, yet he has had some issues with the producers behind the scenes more recently. In any event, audiences demonstrated that Adonis Creed has become a hero in his own right, divorced from Mr. Balboa. That is absolutely the best-case scenario for any legacy sequel. It's also great news for Amazon, which now owns MGM, as this represents their biggest opening weekend ever for an original movie.

Aside from the reviews, a portion of this can be attributed to Jonathan Majors, who plays the other man in the ring in "Creed III." His star power has skyrocketed as of late, and audiences like what he's doing. Case in point, he stars in the top two movies at the box office this weekend, with "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" finishing in a distant second with $12.47 million. That represents a hefty 61% drop from last weekend, where the movie took a plunge as well. It's not great news for Marvel's latest, as it's now expected to finish at or just below $500 million worldwide, making it the lowest-grossing entry in the "Ant-Man" franchise.

Be that as it may, Majors has now had the top movie at the box office for the past three weeks in a row. With "Scream VI" hitting theaters this upcoming weekend, Majors' run will come to an end, but rest assured, he'll be back on top in the future.

Rounding out the top three was "Cocaine Bear," which held pretty well for Universal, taking in $11 million. That represents a 52.6% drop and, considering the competition, that's pretty damn good. If it can hold its own this weekend as well, the studio should be able to call this one a win. Interestingly enough, anime cracked the top five again with "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village" taking in $10.1 million. We've seen this a lot recently in North America, but anime is no longer on the fringes of pop culture. Heck, even Michael B. Jordan said he was influenced by anime for "Creed III." It's now capable of putting meat in seats at movie theaters.

Rounding out the top five was another surprise from last weekend in the form of "Jesus Revolution," which added another $8.65 million. The faith-based flick has now made $30.5 million, and serves as an absolute win for Lionsgate. The marketing budget for this one was pretty damn thrifty, so they should make a killing.

The other big noteworthy film this weekend was Guy Ritchie's latest, the long-delayed "Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre." Also hailing from Lionsgate, this one was pretty much dumped in theaters with no fanfare and, as a result, bombed with just $3.16 million against a $50 million budget. The only silver lining is that it has already made more than $30 million internationally, so those numbers could bail the financers out. Lionsgate is just distributing here, so they shouldn't suffer too much.

Top ten movies at the box office Match 3 – 5, 2023.

1. "Creed III" – $58.6 million

2. "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" – $12.47 million

3. "Cocaine Bear" – $11 million

4. "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village" – $10.1 million

5. "Jesus Revolution" – $8.65 million

6. "Avatar: The Way of Water" – $3.57 million

7. "Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre" – $3.16 million

8. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" – $2.72 million

9. "Magic Mike's Last Dance" – $1.18 million

10. "80 for Brady" – $845,000