Ant-Man Stands Tall at Weekend Box Office

20 Jul, 2015

Marvel’s “Ant-Man” landed with a solid $58 million at the weekend box office, while “Trainwreck’s” Amy Schumer put her own raunchy spin on romantic comedies to the tune of a $30.2 million debut.

It marks Marvel’s 12th consecutive first place opening, although “Ant-Man” isn’t at the level of other, bigger-name costumed heroes like Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, all of whom performed better out of the gate with their solo adventures. Going into the weekend, some analysts expected “Ant-Man” to top $60 million, but its opening is similar to “The Incredible Hulk,” which earned an initial $55 million on its way to a $134 million U.S. haul.

Universal’s “Trainwreck” bested initial projections which had it debuting to roughly $20 million. The story of a commitment-phobic woman who falls for a sports doctor got a boost from strong reviews and a long and winding promotional tour that saw Schumer doing everything from posing provocatively with C3PO to sexting Katie Couric’s husband.

“Trainwreck” kicks off Schumer’s film career on a high note and marks the second biggest opening for director Judd Apatow, behind only “Knocked Up’s” $30.7 million debut.

In its second weekend, Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s “Minions” captured runner-up status, pulling in $50.2 million. The “Despicable Me” spin-off has racked up $216.7 million stateside since it debuted, while selling boatloads of merchandise.

In milestone news, “Jurassic World” became just the fourth film in history to top $600 million domestically. The dinosaur thriller added $11.4 million to take fifth place on the box office chart and propel its North American total to $611.1 million.

Meanwhile, “Inside Out” pushed past $300 million domestically, joining “Toy Story 3” and “Finding Nemo” as the third Pixar film to reach that mark. Domestically, “Inside Out” racked up $11.6 million for a fourth place finish, bringing its North American gross to $306.4 million.

Reuters 

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