Fights erupt at ‘Creed III’ screenings in France, Germany

Life imitates art — and not always for the better.

“Creed III” is spawning fights in the audiences during screenings in France and Germany, and some fear that viral footage of the fights could be part of a dangerous new social media challenge.

Brawls have erupted during a number of showings of the film starring Michael B. Jordan during its opening week beginning March 1, according to Deadline.

French media outlets reported that about a dozen separate incidents occurred in France over the weekend, causing some independent theaters to remove the film from their screens.

On Saturday, police were called to a Megarama theater in the central France city of Saint-Étienne after a security guard suffered an injury to the head during a fight where cans and bottles were being thrown around.

That same day, 500 people were evacuated from a Kinepolis cinema in Thionville, France, after a massive fight, which led to the screening being canceled.

A fight during a screening at the Metropolis cinema in the northern town of Charleville-Mézières led to another evacuation when two people started fighting and were ultimately arrested and temporarily placed in police custody.

However, all three of these cinemas kept “Creed III” on the scheduling program.

One theater that decided to remove the film from its schedule in the nine-screen CinéCentre complex in the northern town of Dreux said it sparked “inappropriate behavior” that didn’t represent its “values,” according to its website.

Police were also called to de-escalate fights in Germany at screenings in the cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Essen.

German media outlets were concerned that, since some footage of fights during screenings went viral, the acts of violence could be part of a social media challenge.

One French exhibition professional told Deadline that these were isolated incidents, pointing out that there were 600 theaters showing the film in France with more than 10,000 screenings in its opening week, so these smaller amounts of fights couldn’t be part of a campaign.

On its opening night, “Creed III” raked in $22 million, according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.

The “Rocky” spinoff marks the ninth installment in the franchise and is the first that does not star Sylvester Stallone.