Michael B. Jordan boxes way to opening day history in ‘Creed II’
The film is expected to garner $61 million during its five-day launch, marking the best Thanksgiving opening of all time for a live-action film.
Michael B. Jordan‘s Creed II opened to a tune of $11.6 million on Wednesday in a projected five-day launch of $61 million, marking the best Thanksgiving opening of all time for a live-action film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The highly anticipated MGM, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinemas sequel, which opened in 3,359 locations, received an A-CinemaScore. It picks up where the first movie left off, with Jordan starring as Adonis Creed, son of Apollo Creed, a boxer balancing his personal obligations while training for his next big fight, alongside Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone’s character.
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As Adonis prepares for the fight of his life against an opponent linked to his family’s past, he and Rocky will “confront their shared legacy, question what’s worth fighting for, and discover nothing’s more important than family,” according to the movie synopsis. In addition to Jordan and Stallone, returning to Creed II are Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad.
The movie is succeeding in drawing a notably diverse audience, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film is the eight installment of the Rocky franchise and follows up 2015’s Creed. The first Creed received rave reviews and debuted to a $42 million Wed-Sun box office draw. It earned $109.7 million domestically and $173.5 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, Forbes noted.
Rounding out the movies competing for their share of the Thanksgiving moviegoer pie, Ralph Breaks the Internet scored $18.5 million Wednesday from 4,017 theaters for an anticipated five-day debut of $94 million-plus, the best opening ever for the long holiday weekend, beating out previous Disney Animation Studios’ blockbuster Frozen ($93.6 million), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Not doing so well was Lionsgate’s Robin Hood, which earned a meager $3.1 million on Wednesday from 2,715 locations for an estimated five-day start of $17 million. The movie, which stars Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson and Jamie Dornan, was panned by critics and received a B-CinemaScore ranking from moviegoers.
Also opening to disappointing results was Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, which grossed only $908,000 from 1,062 cinemas for a projected five-day total of $6 million.
Earlier this month, Mortensen apologized after using the n-word during a post-screening discussion in Los Angeles. The 1960s period drama stars Ali as a classical pianist who embarks on a road trip through the segregated South in the 1960s with a white driver (Mortensen), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
