‘Creed III’, the latest installment in the Rocky Balboa spin-off saga, earned $58.7 million at the domestic box office in its weekend debut. The film, directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan alongside Jonathan Majors, set a franchise record after opening to rave reviews.

MGM’s head of distribution Erik Lomis told the Associated Press: “This is beyond all of our expectations. And we knew that we had something special — we tested the movie and it tested great, but the public responded so resoundingly to it  Everything went right here starting with the movie itself … It was just up to us not to break it when they gave it to us and we didn’t.”

‘Creed III’ also knocked reigning box office No. 1 ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ out of the top spot. The Marvel action film saw a 61% decline in its third weekend after taking in around $12 million. Following closely behind is Elizabeth Banks’ action-comedy ‘Cocaine Bear’, starring O’Shea Jackson Jr., Keri Russell, and Alden Ehrenreich, which grossed $11 million after a 53% drop from its $23 million opening weekend.

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