Warner Bros’ “Creed III” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with a knockout £5 million ($5.9 million), according to numbers from Comscore.
In its third weekend, Disney’s “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” moved down a slot to second place with £1.4 million for a total of £17.2 million.
Universal’s “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” collected £1.1 million in its fifth weekend in third position for a total of £22.1 million. In fourth place, another Universal title, “Cocaine Bear,” snorted £1.09 million in its second weekend for a total of £3.6 million.
Rounding off the top five was Studiocanal’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?,” which charmed its way to £845,838 in its second weekend for a total of £2.7 million.
Sony’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Swordsmith Village” debuted in sixth place with £567,638 and the weekend’s other debut was Magnetes’ “Heaven in Hell,” which bowed in 10th position with £146,318.
MUBI’s “Close” debuted in 11th place with £128,501. MUBI’s “Aftersun” is still going strong, with a weekend collection of £21,011, registering only a 2% drop ahead of Oscars week. It has £1.7 million to date.
Eduardo Leal, group regional director of content at cinema chain Vue International, said: “‘Creed III’ has had the largest opening weekend for a sports film ever in the U.K., delivering an incredible opening weekend box office of over £5 million admissions, an increase of 132% since the first movie of the franchise, ‘Creed.’ Cinemas continue to be an irreplaceable economic engine for the studios and we are excited to see such a great response from our customers, who continue to return to the big screen for differentiated out of home experiences.”
The weekend ahead there are three wide releases opening across more than 300 locations each – Paramount’s “Scream VI,” Sony’s “65” and Universal’s “Champions.” In what is a crowded release weekend, Altitude’s much anticipated “Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey” is also opening as is Sovereign’s 2021 Toronto title “The Middle Man.”
Signature Entertainment is bowing a brace of films from the 2022 Toronto festival – “My Sailor, My Love” and “Charcoal.” Dogwoof is opening San Sebastián selection “Meet Me in the Bathroom,” while Peccadillo Pictures is debuting Oscar nominated Bhutanese film “Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom.”