“Creed III” defied expectations on Friday night.
After making $5.4 million in previews, the third part of the post-“Rocky” trilogy earned another $17 million last night. Total so far is $22 million.
At this rate, “Creed III” would end tomorrow with $54 million. That’s waaaay over the top estimates of $39 million that were coming in on Thursday. And that’s with pretty bad weather everywhere including the North East.
Sylvester Stallone really made a mistake on this one. I told you last year that the “Rocky” producers left a spot in the film for him to play his original character. But he refused. He continued to fight with Irwin Winkler over rights to the “Rocky” series even though it made him rich beyond description. Stallone sold the rights to Winkler in 1976, not realizing there would be 7 “Rocky” movies and the “Creed” spin off. Stallone was also supposed to write and stat in a new “Rocky” movie but seems to have declined by being obnoxious in public toward Winkler.
The big winner here is Michael B. Jordan, a teenager actor on “All My Children” who made a huge film debut in “Fruitvale Station” with Ryan Coogler directing, followed Coogler into “Black Panther” and “Creed,” and now directs a hit feature. The other winner is Jonathan Majors, who will come out of “Creed III” a bona fide movie star.
