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March 2023 has been the month of back-to-back box office hits, especially movie franchises that are having a field day at the opening. Although some movies saw a slow start in January and February, March is picking up the slack and the 2023 stats are looking fairly good for both original and franchise movies.
The month of March also saw the release of some of the biggest franchise movies at the box office. Be it Creed III or John Wick Chapter 4, the audience support as well as the critics' score, did not disappoint. The action movies, which are most prevalent, are much more structured with well-executed plots and stunning fight scene choreography.
These three movies mentioned in the article have captured the attention of the audience. Be it due to its stellar production or controversies, here are the three top-earning movies of March that have created a movement at the box office.
John Wick Chapter 4 and two other box office movies that should be a priority on watchlists
1) Creed III (March 3, 2023)
With a whopping $58.7 million at the box office on the opening weekend itself, it is hard to believe that this is the directorial debut of Michael B. Jordan. Creed is a well-established franchise, and Michael B. Jordan's contribution as both a director and an actor in this film ensured its success.
The sports drama follows the narrative of Adonis "Donnie" Creed as we see him taking a back seat from boxing and enjoying the peace and quiet of retirement. However, his past comes back in the form of Damian "Diamond Dame" Anderson, who asks for Donnie’s help to resume his boxing career. Donnie is reluctant but accepts. Is this a new start to a friendship or an omen? We see this throughout the movie as secrets unfold the knots of the past.
The film clearly wanted to stand out at the box office, so it chose not to include any members of the Rocky series. Michael B. Jordan gave a powerhouse performance, but more than that, Jonathan Majors commanded the respect of the audience with his superb delivery as the first non-fighter in the franchise.
Anime fans will be ecstatic to know that Michael B. Jordan is quite the anime nerd, and his love for animes such as Naruto and Dragon Ball Z shaped most parts of Creed III.
Jordan told Indie Wire,
“I needed to show the smarts of Adonis. I wanted to see how evolved he was at the beginning of the movie. You know, he’s at the top of his game. He’s boxing on another level. I thought that was really important to establish right off the top."
The actor continued,
“I love the thought process of anime, the internal dialog, and seeing the world through how [characters] think. They just achieve a level of action that live action just sometimes doesn’t give you.”
2) John Wick Chapter 4 (March 24, 2023)
The John Wick action franchise has grown in popularity at the box office with each installment, and for good reason. With the popularity of Keanu Reeves and the franchise itself, many had already predicted the box office results of Chapter 4 before its release, and they were spot on.
The plot follows John Wick, the infamous hitman, as he hides and plots revenge against the High Table. The whole movie is a cat-and-mouse game of retort between John Wick and the High Table to see who comes out on top.
The movie is already being crowned by critics and the audience at the box office as one of the greatest action movies ever due to its impeccable stunts and amazingly choreographed combat scenes. The fourth sequel has a much longer time frame of 2 hours and 49 minutes, but it has managed to execute it in a productive manner so the audience is always at the edge of their seat. Additionally, the sound design and the music are the added creme-de-la-creme on top of the already brilliant performance.
Whether you're a fan of action movies or just want to see Keanu Reeves in all his glory, this is a perfect box office hit worth seeing on the weekends.
3) Shazam! Fury of the Gods (March 17, 2023)
There has always been a rivalry between MCU and DC fans. When the first Shazam! came out, the MCU fans created a huge ruckus, saying the light-hearted tone of the movie was DC’s attempt to follow Marvel’s trend.
In 2023, after the disastrous theater run of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania by MCU, it was DC's turn to show what they had got, and it did relatively well than the Ant-Man movie.
The plot follows Billy Batson and the group of foster kids he has named” Shazamily” as we see danger looming on the horizon, with the two daughters of Titan Atlas breaking into a museum to get their hands on the broken Wizard wand. Growing up with different interests causes the group to drift apart. Meanwhile, the daughters of Titan Atlas have taken the wand to the wizard, who is trapped in God’s Realm, to fix it. As chaos ensues, will Billy and Shazamily save the day?
The film might have performed much better at the box office probably had it not been for the ego battles. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson decided to take control of Black Adam and apparently the entire DC universe by restructuring his character and Superman to be at the center of DCEU. News outlet The Wrap has reported that Dwayne Johnson became obsessed with this idea and even blocked Zachary Levi from appearing in the post-credit scenes.
Then we saw celebrities throwing shade, as Zachary Levi posted a story on Instagram regarding the news on The Wrap about Shazam! Fury of the Gods' box office collection and captioned it,
“The truth shall set you free.”
Because of such fiascos, the audience is hoping that DC will take matters into their own hands and resolve this.
The memories of March look like a collage of amazing box office hits. All of them are running in the theaters successfully. Their box office numbers indicate that the audience's time will not be wasted.
