Michael B. Jordan has had his day. With Creed III opening in the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office last weekend, the actor-turned-writer/director has officially taken ownership over the Rocky franchise.
Creed III is the third hit film in which he has led the franchise by playing Adonis Creed, the son of Rocky’s one-time best friend and rival, Apollo Creed. The Rocky films were huge for me as a kid, especially the first four, so I’m always kinda sorta excited to see the latest Creed flick.
For this one, written by Ryan Coogler, Keenan Coogler, and Zach Baylin, Apollo has to fight his childhood friend, played by the great Jonathan Majors. Tessa Thompson also returns to the Creed franchise.
In its opening weeknd, Creed III took in $58 million in tickets sales in the U.S. ($100 million worldwide) and is on pace to be the most successful film in the franchise.
The film is getting some love from critics, too, currently holding a score of 74/100 on Metacritic.
Also at the Box
Speaking of Jonathan Majors, he also stars in the No. 2 movie at the box office, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which sold another $12.4 million, upping its 17-day sales total to $187 million in the U.S. and $419 million worldwide. Isn’t it a beautiful sight, seeing the box office results for Marvel films drop off. Finally. I was starting to worry. Here’s hoping we’re seeing the beginning of the end of this very dark era for cinema.
Schtick-comedy Cocaine Bear took the No. 3 spot with $11 million. The flick has sold $52 million worldwide. Whoa.
Demon Slayer and Jesus Revolution finished fourth and fifth with $10.1 and $8.7 million in sales, respectively.
Not exactly the best time of year at the box office.
New this week
65, Champions, and Scream VI will all open wide this weekend, while a number of smaller films will see limited releases, none of which look especially promising to me.
65 is a sci-fi film starring Indiana’s own Adam Driver. Looks more like a bad video game than cinema to these eyes.
Scream VI appears to basically be another Scream film, but this time set in New York City. Not gonna lie, I find all the Scream films to be very fun, and I will be seeing the sixth installment eventually, albeit with very low expectations.
As for Champions, well, I’m not really sure what to say about that one. Look the film up if you’re curious as to why I’m not exactly excited to see it or talk about it.
ScreenRant
Oscar weekend is finally here.
I share this disclaimer pretty much every year: I think most awards shows are awful and I know that art isn’t a competition, but dang do I love the Oscars. It’s been my favorite night of television every year since 1993 when I first started to really think about film.
This year’s show will be, I think, a good one. So many great nominees and films, far more than usual. That being said, if Avatar: The Way of Water wins Best Picture, I’ll be very disappointed.
