The 2023 box office didn’t do so badly in the first two months of the year with a number of breakout hits, and the likes of james cameronDreamWorks Animation’s “Avatar: Waterway” and “Puss in Boots: Last Wish” have held firm since their pre-Christmas releases. Read on for the box office preview of Gold Derby.
In theory, March will be one of the best months outside of summer to come with four consecutive franchise sequels, starting with “Creed III.” MGM’s spin-off sequel to Sylvester StalloneLaunch of the long-running “Rocky” franchise Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed (son of Apollo Creed) in 2015 for the Ryan Coogler– performed “Creed”. Eight years later, Jordan tries his hand at directing, making “Creed III” his directorial debut.
Although Tessa Thompson And Phylicia Rashad also return as the wife and mother of Adonis, respectively, this third installment is devoted to the introduction of Jonathan Majors‘ Damien “Dame” Anderson, a former friend of Adonis’ who has been in prison for 18 years. Majors comes out of the latest Marvel movie, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” where critics generally praised Majors’ performance. The Majors also gave an amazing performance in the Sundance movie, “Magazine Dreams,” which Searchlight picked up for release, probably because the Majors might draw attention to it.
The good news for “Creed III” is that it hits 4,007 theaters this Friday after two previous movies that both did very well, even though they’re still starring. Sylvester Stallone, whose character is not even mentioned in the third film. The previous two films opened on Thanksgiving in 2015 and 2018 with $42.1 million and $56 million, respectively, both in five days. The two also earned over $100 million, and although it’s been five years since the previous installment, delaying the release until things normalize after COVID is probably a smart move.
All of the previous “Creed” movies have been fairly well received by critics, and “Creed III” is no exception, currently starring at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, possibly the best reviews for a studio movie this year. Regardless, because the franchise and boxing in general are still hugely popular, and with the addition of Jordan shooting the movie for IMAX screens, those higher ticket prices will certainly help too. Because of that, there’s little reason “Creed III” couldn’t open with over $40 million, given the popularity of the franchise and the current popularity of Majors.
SEE 2022 box office success: every movie that made more than $100 million
“Demon Slayer: To the Swordsmith Village” is Crunchyroll’s latest anime, released in around 1,700 theaters and hoping to find the hit of 2021’s “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train,” which opened with $22.8 million. in 1,605 theaters in April. 2020, just as movie theaters were reopening during the pandemic. It even beat the movie “Mortal Kombat” in twice as many theaters this weekend.
While it’s safe to assume “Swordsmith Village” will do just as well, it opens with much stronger films in theaters, although the very specific audience of anime fans and Crunchyroll subscribers should watch it. help earn $10 million or more to challenge for fourth place against last weekend. hits, “Cocaine Bear” and “Jesus Revolution”.
Also being shown in approximately 2,000 theaters is Guy Ritchiethe long-delayed action-comedy “Operation Fortune: Ruse of War,” starring Jason Statham, Place Aubrey, Hugh Grant, Cary Elwes And Josh Hartnet. In the film, Statham plays Special Agent Orson Fortune, who recruits one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars (played by Grant) for an undercover mission to stop the sale of deadly weapons technology. If it looks a bit like last year Nicholas Cage/Pedro Pascal comedy, “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” is just a coincidence, as it was also supposed to come out last year.
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By this point, Ritchie has made quite a mark for himself dating back to his first film, “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” and though his release was hit (Disney’s “Aladdin” in 2019) or failed (“King Arthur two years earlier), he began to stabilize with more recent films, January 2020’s ‘The Gentleman’ (opening $10.7 million) and 2021’s ‘Wrath of Man’, also starring Statham and Hartnett, which opened with $8.3 million a few weeks after the aforementioned 2021 “Demon Slayer” movie.
There are a number of reasons why “Operation Fortune” might not do as well as Ritchie’s later films, the first being that it comes out this weekend – “emptied” if you will – with so little fanfare and promotion. after being released in dozens of other countries earlier this year. This is partly due to the film’s original studio, STXfilms, struggling with financial problems that led it to sell many of its films to streamers and other studios, such as Lionsgate, which also distributed the Nicolas Cage comedy mentioned above. Honestly, this one will probably be lucky if it manages to make $4-5 million this weekend, which would put it outside the top five.
Check back on Sunday to see how all of the above turned out. In case you missed it, you can read Gold Derby’s March box office preview to see what else is to come.
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