'Creed III' Poised to Knock Out 'Ant-Man and the Wasp ...

Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut, Creed III, will dethrone last week’s number one film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania from the top spot at the weekend box office. The phenomenally well-reviewed threequel made $5.4 million from Wednesday and Thursday previews, of which 74% came from Thursday. This positions the film to claim the top spot in its debut weekend, and easily out-gross both of its predecessors.

The film was projected to gross at least $36 million in its first weekend, with the higher end of projections pegged at $40 million. Creed III remains on track to hit that number, which would put it ahead of the first Creed’s $29.6 million three-day debut in 2015, and Creed II’s $35.5 million opening weekend in 2018. While the first Creed made $1.4 million in Tuesday previews before debuting on Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving weekend, Creed II launched with $3.7 million, also on a Tuesday, and also ahead of Thanksgiving. Creed finished its five-day opening weekend with $42 million, while the sequel made $56 million across five days.

Both Creed and Creed II — which served as spinoffs to the Rocky franchise and also featured Sylvester Stallone as the iconic fighter — debuted to ecstatic critical and fan reception, as has the third film. Creed III pits Jordan’s Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, against his childhood buddy Damien, played by the so-hot-right-now Jonathan Majors. Incidentally, this sets up an interesting box office bout between two of his movies this weekend, both of which also happen to be threequels.

RELATED: Creed Movies Don’t Need Rocky Balboa Anymore

Speaking of which, Ant-Man is expected to gross between $16 million and $19 million in its third weekend, after topping the box office two weekends in a row. Although it did register a franchise-worst drop in its sophomore frame. By now, it's clear that the big-budget superhero sequel isn’t quite performing at the level we’ve come to expect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film’s running domestic total is yet to crack $180 million, and is hovering under $400 million globally. Also in the running is Universal’s Cocaine Bear, which added $1.48 million on Thursday. The action-comedy romp has so far grossed $30 million domestically, after finishing second in its debut weekend. Last week's over-performer Jesus Revolution grossed $1.3 million on Thursday, while Avatar: The Way of Water made $361,000 as it enters its 12th week.

After playing in several international territories earlier this year, director Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre was also released this week. The film is bowing in over 2,000 domestic theaters, where it is expected to gross in the single-digits over the weekend. Operation Fortune, a caper film starring Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza, has already made $30 million from overseas territories. Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer Into the Swordsmith Village is debuting in over 1,700 theaters, but the film hasn’t been allotted any IMAX or Premium High Format screens, all of which have gone to Creed III.

You can watch our interview with Jordan here, and stay tuned to Collider for more box office updates over the weekend.