Superheroes don’t get much smaller than Ant-Man. But the guy still made a big impact.
Like one of those six-legged critters that can lift lemons over their waving antennae, Ant-Man hoisted an estimated $58 million and skittered away with it, all the way back to Disney’s increasingly palatial offices.
Granted, Ant-Man’s opening gross fell a little (ahem) short of his fellow Avengers. In fact, when you stand the earnings up to some of his future teammates’ opening frames, Ant-Man’s Ant-Man looks sorta puny. Thor entered the fray with $65.7 million. Captain America: The First Avenger scored $65.1 million. Iron Man soared to a $98.6 million debut. Ant-Man is (somewhat ironically) about as big as the Hulk in terms of premiere grosses—finishing a little below 2003’s Hulk ($62.1 million) but a little above 2008’s The Incredible Hulk ($55.4 million), depending on which flick you consider to be the green guy’s official cinematic introduction to the wider Marvel universe.
But hey, $58 million is still $58 million, and Ant-Man is still the 12th straight Marvel movie to score a No. 1 debut. No small feat, that.
He did it against some pretty sizable competition, too. Minions, fresh off its own big weekend win, made another $50.2 million to finish second. That foiled any second-place aspirations for Amy Schumer’s R-rated Trainwreck, which banked $30.2 million for third place. Still, Trainwreck outstripped its modest expectations, so it wasn’t a complete disaster. Financially, at least.
Meanwhile, Inside Out and Jurassic World continue their lucrative tango down the charts. They’ve never been apart in the box office standings, one always just a wee bit ahead of the other. It looks like Inside Out got the best of World this go-round, earning an estimated $11.7 million to lock down fourth place. Jurassic World gobbled up $11.4 million for fifth.
But while both may be nearing the end of their runs in the Top Five, neither will be forgotten. No matter how you crunch it, Jurassic World is now the fourth biggest movie ever (not adjusting for inflation, of course). In North America, World has earned $611.2 million—just a T-rex tooth away from The Avengers’ $623.4 million. And worldwide, the tally’s even tighter: World’s made $1.513 billion compared to The Avengers’ $1.520 billion. Meanwhile, while Inside Out’s nest egg isn’t quite as impressive, it’s still the eighth-biggest animated movie in history with a $306.4 million domestic take so far: The only Pixar films to outperform Inside Out are Finding Nemo ($380.8 million) and Toy Story 3 ($415 million).
Final figures update: 1. Ant-Man, $57.2 million; 2. $49.3 million; 3. Trainwreck, $30.1 million; 4. Inside Out, $11.54 million; 5. Jurassic World, $11.45 million.
Recent Comments