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” this 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.”
