Creed III comes out of the corner swinging and lands $5.5 million in Thursday previews

Michael B. Jordan has stepped up his marketing blitz game for Creed III, and with good reason. He not only returns to play the son of iconic Apollo Creed, but this third entry in the popular spin-off of the Rocky series marks his first project as a director. This installment has certain risks going for it with a first-time director and the first time a movie in the Rocky universe doesn’t feature Rocky Balboa.

The Hollywood Reporter gives details on the 1st round scores, with Thursday night previews bringing in $5.5 million. Creed III is currently on pace for a $40 million take over the weekend. 2015’s Creed, which was directed by Ryan Coogler, had earned $42.1 million over the Thanksgiving holiday. The totals for Creed II in 2018 had brought in $35.5 million in three days. The film’s competition includes the darkly humored film Cocaine Bear, which keeps collecting positive word of mouth after it enjoyed a moderately successful weekend.

The real winner here is Jonathan Majors — the up-and-comer who already headed up a feature with last November’s Devotion and is continuing his breakthrough with villain roles in both Creed III and the current box office champ, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It stands to reason that Creed III may knock it off the top spot and Majors will have two movies sitting at one and two at the box office.

Creed III is touting to being the first sports movie film with IMAX cameras. So, it will likely bump Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania off of many premium screens, including IMAX locations.

Creed III follows Adonis as gets a visit from a figure of his rough past. Damien Anderson, freshly released from prison, hits up his old friend and has seemingly innocent intentions of putting his life together by doing what he’s best at — boxing. Adonis has to come to terms with his past and face an uncertain future as Damien appears to have more sinister motives boiling underneath. In true Rocky fashion, fighters fight. And Adonis and Damien must gear up for a main event bout for the ages.