Creed 3 Won the Global Weekend Box Office and Had the Biggest Opening Ever for a Sports Movie in the US

Alongside dominating the global weekend box office with ticket sales of $100.4 million, Creed 3 set a franchise record for an opening weekend while also having the biggest-ever debut for a sports movie in the US.

As reported by Variety, Creed 3 brought in $58.7 million domestically and knocked out the projections that had the film earning between $36 million and $40 million in its first weekend. This stellar performance was enough to surpass Creed’s $29.6 million opening and Creed 2’s $35.5 million debut.

Internationally, Creed 3 raked in another $41.8 million, and is well on its way to recouping its $75 million production budget and additional marketing costs. This third film in the franchise is also the most expensive, as the first film cost $35 million and the second ran the bill up to $50 million.

In our review of Creed 3, we said, “While Creed III may not stray too far from the very familiar format of a Rocky movie, seeing Creed truly begin a legacy of his own apart from Rocky Balboa is an exciting chapter for the series.”

It’s quite an impressive directorial debut for Michael B. Jordan, who stars as Adonis Creed, the son of the legendary Apollo Creed from the Rocky films. Jordan stars alongside Jonathan Majors and Tessa Thompson, and this film marks the first entry in the so-called Rocky-verse that doesn’t include Sylvester Stallone.

Speaking of impressive feats, Majors had the rare honor of starring in both the first- and second-place films of the weekend – Creed 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The latest MCU film brought in around $12 million and saw another big 61% drop from the previous weekend. Ant-Man 3 has earned $186 million domestically and has surpassed the original film’s $180 million and is on its way to pass Ant-Man and the Wasp’s $216 million.

Globally, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has earned only $420 million, which may place it as the lowest-grossing Ant-Man film when it’s all said and done. The first film brought in $519 million and its sequel ended its run with $622 million.

Cocaine Bear stayed strong and placed third with $11 million domestically and now has a global total of $52 million. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba: To the Swordsmith Village placed fourth with $10.1 million and Jesus Revolution topped out the top five with $8.3 million.

For more, check out our ranking of the Rocky and Creed movies before Creed 3, before Creed 3,our chat with Michael B. Jordan about entering the ring as director, and Jordan’s confirmation of Creed 4 and how he wants to “expand the Creed-verse.”

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.