> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theomnicosm.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Jonathan Majors rules the weekend box office - URL: https://www.theomnicosm.com/jonathan-majors-rules-the-weekend/ - Published: 2023-03-06T12:01:15.000Z - Updated: 2024-01-13T02:36:15.000Z - Description: ‘Creed III’ and ‘Quantumania’ give the actor back-to-back No. 1 movies. PLUS: There’s a new Hellboy, ‘Succession’ gets a trailer, and Jenna Ortega breezes through ‘Hot Ones.’ - Author: Bill Kuchman - Tags: Popculturology • Friday Newsletter, Popculturology, Marvel, Jonathan Majors, Ant-Man, Creed It’s a good time to be **Jonathan Majors**. You’re playing the major villain of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe saga. There’s already awards buzz over your upcoming *Magazine Dreams* role. And you’re in **Michael B. Jordan**’s directorial debut — which just happens to be the latest installment in the *Rocky*/*Creed* franchise. The age of Majors played out in movie theaters this past weekend, with *Creed III* and *Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania* taking the top two spots at the domestic box office. [According to a Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/11h1247/now%5Fthat%5Fcreed%5Fiii%5Fis%5Fassured%5Fto%5Fopen%5F1%5Fthis/?ref=theomnicosm.com) ([via ](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/03/creed-iii-is-a-major-and-majors-success?ref=theomnicosm.com)[*Vanity Fair*](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/03/creed-iii-is-a-major-and-majors-success?ref=theomnicosm.com)), Majors is the first actor to star in two different No. 1 movies in back-to-back weeks since **Josh Brolin** did it with *Avengers: Infinity War* and *Deadpool 2* in 2018\. **Jessica Chastain** also pulled off this feat with *Zero Dark Thirty* and *Mama* in 2013. *Creed III* scored not just the best opening weekend for the *Rocky* franchise (beating *Creed*’s $29.6 million debut and *Creed II*’s $35.6 million debut), but [according to ](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/keywords/Sports-Drama?ref=theomnicosm.com#keyword%5Fmovies=vt0.1.8.9.13.16:od9)[*The Numbers*](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/keywords/Sports-Drama?ref=theomnicosm.com#keyword%5Fmovies=vt0.1.8.9.13.16:od9), it had the highest opening weekend for any sports drama. While I’m not exactly sure on the scientific specificity of “sports drama,” *Creed III*’s $58.7 million first weekend puts it ahead of films like *Ford v Ferrari* ($31.5 million), *Remember the Titans* ($20.9 million) and *Seabiscuit* ($20.9 million). Out of curiosity, I pulled up the “sports comedy” category on *The Numbers* to see if maybe a film on that list had opened higher than *Creed III*’s debut, but those numbers are even lower. (*Semi-Pro* at $15.1 million, *80 for Brady* at $12.7 million, *Happy Gilmore* at $10.1 million.) The only sports film I could think of that was missing from these categories but had the punch to open big was *Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby*. Turns out that one had an opening weekend of $47 million, so yeah, *Creed III* appears to be the champion. The Majors-related box office news from this weekend isn’t all great, though. After a big opening weekend, *Quantumania* continues to plummet at the box office. The latest *Ant-Man* film fell another 61 percent its third weekend in release, grossing just $12.5 million. I went through the third-weekend numbers for the MCU, and that number for *Quantumania* is one of the worst for the megafranchise in that category. 1. *The Incredible Hulk* $9.6 million 2. *Eternals* $11.1 million 3. *Black Widow* $11.6 million 4. *Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania* $12.5 million 5. *Ant-Man* $12.8 million 6. *Captain America: The First Avenger* $13 million 7. *Thor: The Dark World* $14.2 million 8. *Thor* $15.5 million 9. *Doctor Strange* $17.8 million 10. *Spider-Man: Far From Home* $21.2 million Of the three films that had worse third weekends than *Quantumania*, *The Incredible Hulk* was released before the MCU was even the MCU and *Black Widow* was a pandemic release that was available on Disney+ the same day it hit theaters. Only *Eternals* (which I like!) had a legitimately poor box office performance in this context. --- **Happy Monday, and thanks for reading* *Popculturology*. I love writing about pop culture, and I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.* **Are you a subscriber yet?* It’s the easiest way to make sure you get every edition of *Popculturology*.* [Subscribe now](https://www.theomnicosm.com/subscribe) **Share your thoughts* on Jonathan Majors and everything else pop culture below.* *And please *tap the ♥️ button* at the bottom of each post if you enjoyed the newsletter. Now let’s get to the news.* --- ![The News](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f5596f026-3e58-4b1d-ba69-54d3a431d50b_2028x228-4.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fbaa8ca41-9c7b-4f91-8982-f72a8b247ce7_1280x720-jpeg.jpg) Detective Pikachu in **Detective Pikachu*. / Warner Bros. Pictures ### *Portlandia* co-creator might direct *Detective Pikachu* sequel *Detective Pikachu* grossed $429 million worldwide when it was released in 2019\. I thought it was an entertaining take on the Pokémon universe, especially with **Ryan Reynolds** in the mix as the voice of Detective Pikachu. [According to ](https://deadline.com/2023/03/legendary-jonathan-krisel-pokemon-detective-pikachu-sequel-1235277486/?ref=theomnicosm.com)[*Deadline*](https://deadline.com/2023/03/legendary-jonathan-krisel-pokemon-detective-pikachu-sequel-1235277486/?ref=theomnicosm.com), the wheels are finally turning on a sequel, with *Portlandia* co-creator **Jonathan Krisel** in talks to direct the film. The outlet says that while there are no deals at the moment, Reynolds is expected to be involved in the Detective Pikachu sequel in some way. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff05828a6-e0fc-456e-8d31-5f6fbd8e943f_3333x65-275.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff9fd5500-e909-4272-815a-b226330c41d4_2360x984-jpeg.jpg) ****Keanu Reeves** in **John Wick: Chapter 4*. / Lionsgate ### *John Wick: Chapter 4* tracking for a franchise best debut Through the first three *John Wick* movies, the franchise has improved on its box office performance with each new installment. That trend is expected to continue with *John Wick: Chapter 4*, with [Deadline reporting last week](https://deadline.com/2023/03/john-wick-chapter-4-box-office-keanu-reeves-1235276778/?ref=theomnicosm.com) that the upcoming film in tracking for an opening weekend between $60 million and $70 million. A domestic opening in that range would easily top *John Wick*’s $14.4 million debut and *John Wick: Chapter Two*’s $30.4 million debut. If the tracking holds, this one will beat *John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum*’s $56.8 million opening weekend too. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff05828a6-e0fc-456e-8d31-5f6fbd8e943f_3333x65-276.png) ### The *Hellboy* reboot finds its lead *Hellboy: The Crooked Man*, the second reboot of the *Hellboy* film franchise, is moving along pretty quickly. [News broke last week](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/hellboy-movie-the-crooked-man-casts-jack-kesy-1235339493/?ref=theomnicosm.com) that *The Strain*’s **Jack Kesy** had scored the lead role in the film. I’m not familiar with Kesy and confused him with *She-Hulk*’s **Josh Segarra** at first. (I’d actually like to see that casting.) [*Deadline*](https://deadline.com/2023/03/hellboy-reboot-yellowstone-jefferson-white-resident-evil-adeline-rudolph-1235277956/?ref=theomnicosm.com)[ also reported](https://deadline.com/2023/03/hellboy-reboot-yellowstone-jefferson-white-resident-evil-adeline-rudolph-1235277956/?ref=theomnicosm.com) that **Jefferson White** and **Adeline Rudolph** have joined *The Crooked Man*. I can’t say it bodes well for this movie when every new bit of casting is someone who I’m totally unfamiliar with. Not quite **Ron Perlman** and **David Harbour** here. --- *💬 💬 💬 *Wanna share your comments, questions or recommendations?* Leave a comment at the bottom of the newsletter.* --- ![Deep SNL Thoughts](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fd0b52ec2-6970-47cb-af52-f9dc4e9c6260_2028x228-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fea15d4e6-4b27-42a1-99dc-ab959c2d0df1_1000x667-jpeg.jpg) ****Travis Kelce, Devon Walker, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, Ego Nwodim** and **James Austin Johnson* in Saturday Night Live. / NBC [Deep SNL Thoughts: Travis Kelce knocks out ‘Please Don’t Destroy’I did it. I watched the Travis Kelce episode of Saturday Night Live. As a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan, I’ve more than seen enough of Kelce and his fellow Kansas City Chiefs during the NFL playoffs. Voluntarily watching him for an entire episode of SNL![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f53140f9c-934c-464d-91cd-d913d6b7ac82_1280x1280-10.png)Popculturology](https://www.theomnicosm.com/p/deep-snl-thoughts-travis-kelce-knocks) --- ![Trailer Watch](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fc07ddcd5-331f-4db7-a120-25841e805cba_2028x228-2.png) ### *Succession* What are we going to do when *Succession* is gone? Where will be without the highly quotable dialogue from Logan Roy and Cousin Greg? *Succession returns on March 26.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff05828a6-e0fc-456e-8d31-5f6fbd8e943f_3333x65-277.png) ### *Haunted Mansion* It only took twenty years (wow, how has it been that long?), but Disney is ready to turn its Haunted Mansion ride into a film again. *Dear White People* director **Justin Simien** is at the helm of this one, and Disney has given him quite the cast to try to make Haunted Mansion a success, including **LaKeith Stanfield**, **Rosario Dawson**, **Owen Wilson**, **Tiffany Haddish**, **Danny DeVito** and **Jamie Lee Curtis**. *Haunted Mansion premieres on July 28.* --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f07aae005-2bba-4d72-a8a2-a302bbff46b6_2028x228-4.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f9e7ab9f5-cdab-4d4c-85c2-972e67d3baa0_1581x1054-webp.jpg) ****Michael B. Jordan** and ****Jonathan Majors** in **Creed III*. / MGM *Weekend of March 3-5, 2023* **Creed III** (N) *Weekend gross: $58.7M / Total domestic gross: $58.7M / Percent drop: NA* While I had a hunch that **Sylvester Stallone** was missing from *Creed III* (the ninth movie in the *Rocky* franchise) due to creative differences, I had no idea how [toxic the relationship was between Stallone and ](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/sylvester-stallone-creed-3-absence-explained-1235538273/?ref=theomnicosm.com)[*Rocky*](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/sylvester-stallone-creed-3-absence-explained-1235538273/?ref=theomnicosm.com)[ rights owner ](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/sylvester-stallone-creed-3-absence-explained-1235538273/?ref=theomnicosm.com)[**Irwin Winkler**](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/sylvester-stallone-creed-3-absence-explained-1235538273/?ref=theomnicosm.com). 1. **Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania** (1) *Weekend gross: $12.5M / Total domestic gross: $186.8M / Percent drop: -61* 2. **Cocaine Bear** (2) *Weekend gross: $11M / Total domestic gross: $41.3M / Percent drop: -53* 3. **Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — To the Swordsmith Village** (N) *Weekend gross: $10.1M / Total domestic gross: $10.1M / Percent drop: NA* 4. **Jesus Revolution** (3) *Weekend gross: $8.7M / Total domestic gross: $30.5M / Percent drop: -46* *Box office numbers via* [*The Numbers*](http://www.the-numbers.com/?ref=theomnicosm.com) --- ![Playlist](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fb3056c7c-76eb-4f47-9b81-96396664f2aa_2028x228-4.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f936a2324-58b7-45a8-ba90-18713e81f1be_3000x1980-jpeg.jpg) Chris Perfetti, Shwayze, Janella James, William Stanford Davis and Tyler James Williams in the Abbott Elementary episode “Mural Arts.” / ABC ### *Abbott Elementary* **“Mural Arts”** “I’m going to go to Bone Town with Mo, then break up with him,” might be the funniest line in *Abbott Elementary*’s short history. Every line about Bone Town. Every scene at Bone Town. This episode continued to bring the potential effort to turn Abbott into a charter school back into the mix. Just five episodes left to go this season. Will we see **Leslie Odom Jr.** again before the season is over? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff05828a6-e0fc-456e-8d31-5f6fbd8e943f_3333x65-278.png) ### *Hot Ones* **“Jenna Ortega Doesn’t Flinch While Eating Spicy Wings”** “Too easy,” **Jenna Ortega** says at one point during this episode. As I remarked in a previous edition of **Popculturology**, it’s funny to see **Sean Evans** have to massage the egos of people like **LL Cool J** when they start talking about The Classic: Maple Hot being too much to handle. It’s even more funny when you follow that episode with Ortega effortlessly breezing through the *Hot Ones* lineup. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff05828a6-e0fc-456e-8d31-5f6fbd8e943f_3333x65-279.png) ### *Corrections* **“CORRECTIONS (Joyce’s Version)”** I almost submitted my first correction early last week when **Seth Meyers** referred to Luke’s landspeeder in the original *Star Wars* movie as a “cruiser.” Everyone knows that cruisers are actual ships that travel in space. Whoever sent in those Seth and Mac Tonight BrickHeadz did a fantastic job creating them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff05828a6-e0fc-456e-8d31-5f6fbd8e943f_3333x65-280.png) ### *The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent* Inspired by **Pedro Pascal** being in just about everything these days, we rented *The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent* on Friday night. While both Caitlin and I were into the film at the beginning — how can you not be interested in Pascal? — this one lost both of us by the end, with Caitlin calling it a night with half an hour left to go and myself spending the final chunk looking at my phone while watching. I really wanted to like this one, but I don’t think the film’s central gimmick was strong enough to make it an entire two hours. --- ![The Links](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f93d79287-0282-4aec-b896-77d9245d4941_2028x228-4.png) - [Fake bands, real songs: The 50 best tunes by made-up musicians](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-by-fake-artists-1234679759/?ref=theomnicosm.com) (*Rolling Stone*) - [Bad projection is ruining the movie theater experience](https://www.vulture.com/2023/03/movie-theater-projector-amc-regal.html?ref=theomnicosm.com) (**Lane Brown**, *Vulture*) - [Over $30 million worth of Funkos are headed to the landfill](https://kotaku.com/funko-pop-spider-man-harry-potter-post-malone-pokemon-1850178280?ref=theomnicosm.com) (**Ethan Gach**, *Kotaku*) - [Who is really buried in Egypt’s most mysterious tomb?](https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-is-really-buried-in-kv55-egypts-most-mysterious-tomb?utm%5Fmedium=socialflow&utm%5Fcampaign=owned%5Fsocial&via=twitter%5Fpage&utm%5Fsource=twitter%5Fowned%5Ftdb) (**Guy De La Bédoyère**, *The Daily Beast*) --- **Spread the news!* Share a free *Popculturology* subscription with your friends.* --- ![Odds and Ends](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f4/8b/f48be8ca-23c6-4d81-b0cf-da2fb0785911/content/images/2024/01/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fc4fcab0a-da0a-4c87-9a75-1eb8b5314e9f_2028x228-2.png) ### Cut for Time: NFL Gives Back This one supposedly didn’t air during [**Travis Kelce**](https://www.theomnicosm.com/p/deep-snl-thoughts-travis-kelce-knocks)[’s ](https://www.theomnicosm.com/p/deep-snl-thoughts-travis-kelce-knocks)[*SNL*](https://www.theomnicosm.com/p/deep-snl-thoughts-travis-kelce-knocks)[ episode](https://www.theomnicosm.com/p/deep-snl-thoughts-travis-kelce-knocks). I didn’t catch it while I watching and at first thought I had fast-forwarded past it. I’m surprised the show didn’t include this sketch. It fits right in with previous pretapes starring athletes. Would *Peyton Manning*’s “Little Brothers” sketch have had the same impact if it was online only? “Adult Legoist” hit too close to home. --- *That’s the end of this issue of *Popculturology*. Thanks for reading. If you don’t already subscribe, please hit the “Subscribe now” button. Tapping the ♥️ at the bottom of each post also helps the newsletter.* [Subscribe now](https://www.theomnicosm.com/subscribe)