“Creed” Soars in Philadelphia

What did you get up to during the long holiday weekend, Philadelphia? Hopefully you ate a lot of turkey, caught up with family and friends, and did some Black Friday shopping for your holiday gifts. A lot of you also took time out of your busy schedules to go and see “Creed,” the latest film in the “Rocky” series! The film swept in an outstanding $42.6 million at the box office over the four-day weekend. Much of that income came from Philadelphia, where the film was over-indexing by 72 percent!

The Rocky statue still draws attention. This weekend, “Creed” drew plenty as well. Photo credit: Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Philadelphia’s love affair with Rocky is a strong one. The city boasts a statue of the fictional boxer, which was created for “Rocky III” and donated to Philadelphia by Sylvester Stallone himself. Today, the Art Museum steps are still famous for the training runs Rocky takes when he bounds up them during the first film. And, of course, the film series – including “Creed” – have all been shot at least in part in Philadelphia, bringing plenty of hometown flair to the silver screen.

When the list of the top-ten grossing movie theaters for a particular movie are announced, they are generally dominated by theaters in New York and Los Angeles. For “Creed,” two of the five best-performing theaters in the country were right in the Philadelphia area: AMC Neshaminy and the AMC Cherry Hill. A third Philly theater, Regal Riverview Plaza, appeared on the top ten list.

It is not unusual for films to do well in the cities where they are set, say experts. Variety points out that “Spotlight” and “Black Mass,” two recent films set in Boston, both grossed highly there.