'Ant-Man' Tops With $58M Debut, Judd Apatow's 'Trainwreck' Impresses
Once again, Marvel Studios have themselves another opening weekend victory with their latest offering, Ant-Man, coming out on top with a $58 million debut. However, Marvel won't popping any champagne bottles as Ant-Man didn't live up to the expectations of its predecessors.
It marks the 12th successive opening weekend number one, but Ant-Man failed to reach the $60M marker — a number most analysts expected the film to occupy. It's safe to say Ant-Man doesn't quite boast the draw that Iron Man, Captain America or Thor hold. This $58M opening haul puts Ant-Man in the same league as The Incredible Hulk, which opened to $55M and considered by many fans to be the weakest Marvel movie to date.
Some experts say Marvel may have started to become complacent and think they can release any superhero movie — no matter how popular or unknown the hero is — and fans will flock to the theatre.
"They are a victim of their own success," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. "Any time you have a brand like Marvel, the expectations get blown out of proportion."
"The media expects a lot, maybe too much, from Marvel movies," said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. "This is not a B-list character. It’s barely even a C-list one. It’s a comic book that hardly anybody collected."
Executives at Disney, Marvel’s parent company, admitted that they would have liked a bigger number, but tried to accentuate the positive, noting that Ant-Man was, in their words, "an obscure character."
Universal’s Trainwreck beat out its initial projections which had the Judd Apatow comedy debuting to roughly $20 million. Trainwreck kicked off its theatrical run with an impressive $30.2 million debut, landing in third place in the box office standings. The movie marks Schumer’s big screen debut and marks the second-biggest opening for director Apatow, with his best still being Knocked Up which took $30.7 million. Universal produced the comedy for a modest $35 million, so it should make a healthy return on its investment.
In its second weekend, Minions took second place pulling in $50.2 million. The Despicable Me spinoff has racked up a total of $216.7 million in the United States since its debut, and is currently selling merchandise by the boat load.
Disney and Pixar's Inside Out took fourth spot this weekend with $11.6 million. Inside Out has now pushed past $300 million domestically, joining Toy Story 3 and Finding Nemo as the third Pixar film to reach the mark.
Jurassic World became the fourth film in history to surpass $600 million domestically. The dino flick added $11.4 million to finish in fifth place on the box office chart and propel its North American total to $611.1 million.
top 10 U.S. Weekend Box Office
1. Ant-Man - $58 million
2. Minions - $50.2 million
3. Trainwreck - $30.2 million
4. Inside Out - $11.6 million
5. Jurassic World - $11.4 million
6. Terminator Genisys - $5.4 million
7. Magic Mike XXL - $4.5 million
8. The Gallows - $4 million
9. Ted 2 - $2.7 million
10. Mr. Holmes - $2.4 million
