As expected, Creed III looks set to deliver a KO punch to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania at the domestic box office, with the biggest opening weekend of the three films in the boxing drama franchise.
Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut made $5.45 million in Thursday previews, and is now poised to take in between $36 million and $40 million by Monday. This would give Creed the No. 1 spot, as Marvel Studios' first Phase 5 film continues to struggle after a record second-week drop.
Peyton Reed's threequel made $3.5M on Friday, for an estimated 3-day total of $13.3M. This would take the movie to $187.6M, although Variety's figures are a little more optimistic ($190M+).
Globally, Ant-Man 3 remains on top, and recently passed the $365M mark worldwide.
Not a disastrous performance by any means, but negative reviews and bad word-of-mouth have almost certainly had an impact. Analysts recently debated whether Marvel Studios should be concerned, and most seem to agree that it's simply too early to tell. After all, Spider-Man: No Way Home also suffered a massive second-weekend dip, and we know how that turned out.
Sony Pictures' threequel had highly positive reviews on its side, though, and once word got out that Tom Holland was joined by previous big-screen Spideys Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, audiences flocked.
Have you been to see Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania yet? If so, do you think the chilly critical reception was warranted? Drop us a comment down below.