Rounding out the top five is 'Sicario: Day of the Soldado'.
- Jul 9, 2018
AceShowbiz - "Ant-Man And The Wasp" has marched to the top of the North American box office chart with a $76 million (£57 million) debut.
The Marvel movie, starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly as the titular superheroes, squashed the competition with the strong opening, which easily set a new record for the franchise, as the original Ant-Man launched in 2015 with a $57 million (£42.8 million) gross.
"We are really thrilled about the results," Cathleen Taff, Disney's head of domestic distribution, told Variety. "We continue to be amazed by what (Marvel boss) Kevin Feige and the team do with these films."
"Kevin and his team always try to come up with a great story diversity. I think you see that come to play here," she added, referencing the fact that Evangeline's the Wasp is the first female character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have her name featured in the title.
Favourable reviews also helped "Ant-Man and the Wasp" dominate the global market, picking up a further $85 million (£63.8 million) outside the U.S. and Canada to take its first weekend total to $161 million (£121 million) worldwide.
That's all good news for executives Marvel and parent company Disney, as they have already raked in over $2 billion globally from "Avengers: Infinity War", and more than $1.3 billion from "Black Panther", to date in 2018.
Meanwhile, back in the North American countdown, Disney's box office roll continues with Incredibles 2 landing in second place with $29 million (£21.8 million), helping the animated superheros surpass "Finding Dory" to become Pixar's highest-grossing film in domestic history.
Third-placed "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" has also been setting new milestones, as it just surpassed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office on Thursday, July 05.
"The First Purge", the origin story for "The Purge" horror series, scares its way to number four, and "Sicario: Day of the Soldado" rounds out the top five at five.
Top Ten Movies at Weekend Box Office for July 7-9:
