The Paul Rudd-starring superhero movie falls short of expectations with $57.2 million, while Amy Schumer's comedy surprises with $30.1 million.
- July 20, 2015
AceShowbiz -
"Ant-Man" has become the 12th straight Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to open atop North American box office. The movie starring Paul Rudd as the titular hero grossed $57.2 million in its debut weekend.
Despite the solid number, it came in short behind expectations of $60 to $65 million. It also marks the second lowest debut for Marvel Studios after "The Incredible Hulk" which opened to $55.4 million in 2008.
Overseas, "Ant-Man" performed well and even better than some other previous Marvel movies like "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Thor". It earned $56.4 million from its first 37 markets for a current global total of $113.6 million.
"This is a great start, albeit not as big as some people said it would be, and Marvel has once again successfully expanded its stable of characters in a way that makes its universe fresh," said Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis, claiming that "Ant-Man" drew the largest share of families (28 percent) and women (32 percent) of any Marvel superhero movie.
While "Ant-Man" won the first place, the biggest surprise this week is "Trainwreck". The R-rated comedy movie toplined by Amy Schumer places third and bagged an impressive $30.1 million, exceeding expectations of around $20 million.
Universal domestic distribution chief Nick Carpou gushed, "Amy is an absolute budding film star. She's already a star in the stand-up comedy world. And Judd [Apatow] has a way of finding talent, and imbuing characters with a real sense of sweetness. What you discover as the film plays on is a sweetness in her character. It's really a romance comedy wrapped up in an R-rated comedy."
Last week's champion "Minions" falls to No. 2 after dropping 57.4|percent|. It added $49.3 million for a current total domestic gross of $216.7 million. Another animated movie, Pixar and Disney's "Inside Out (2015)", also drops one place to No. 4 with $11.5 million.
"Jurassic World" rounds up the top five with $11.4. Dropping only 36.9|percent| from last week, it has now crossed the $600 million mark.
- "Ant-Man" - $57.2 million
- "Minions" - $49.3 million
- "Trainwreck" - $30.1 million
- "Inside Out (2015)" - $11.5 million
- "Jurassic World" - $11.4 million
- "Terminator Genisys" - $5.4 million
- "Magic Mike XXL" - $4.4 million
- "The Gallows" - $4 million
- *"Ted 2" - $2.6 million
- *"Mr. Holmes" - $2.4 million
