Creed 3’s box office returns are already breaking records

The third film in the Creed trilogy has arrived and star/director Michael B. Jordan’s franchise is showing no signs of slowing down. Creed 3 opened to impressive box office returns, earning nearly $59 million in the United States and over $100 million internationally, which exceeded its projections in both categories.

This impressive total marks a high water mark for the entire Rocky franchise, earning more than any of those movies made in their opening weekends. Creed 2 came the closest, although it remains a distant second with a $35 million opening. Creed 3 also debuted to the highest opening of any sports movie, an historic feat — even if the genre doesn’t generally match the earnings of other top blockbusters.

While it may be the ninth film in the Rocky franchise, and the third in the Creed sub-franchise, it is the directorial debut of star Michael B. Jordan. Jordan has said that anime provided a heavy influence for the film and his style in it. Jordan has also made it clear that this isn’t the end of his ambitions to make movies with Creed 3 co-star Jonathan Majors, with the duo saying that they hoped to be the new Al Pacino and Robert de Niro, during an interview with the New York Times.

While Creed 3’s opening is impressive, it may have a hard time holding onto similar numbers since the highly anticipated Scream VI is set to release on March 10.