As expected, Marvel’s Ant-Man opened in first place during its debut weekend. The heist film about a man who acquires a suit that can make him shrink, opened to an estimated $58 million dollars in its first three days of release. While that is a successful opening for most other movies, Marvel Studios is held to a higher standard based on their string of eleven blockbusters. Ant-Man’s opening is the studio’s lowest since The Incredible Hulk in 2008 and slightly lower than the $60-65 million dollar range that the movie was expected to fall between. Regardless, it should still be considered a success based on the rocky pre-production the film went through. Audience scores for the film are also high, which bodes well for positive word of mouth and repeat views. Additionally, the power of Marvel lies in their brand, not simply the success of each individual film. Now that Ant-Man has had his formal introduction to the MCU, expect to him pop up in various films, beginning with next year’s Captain America: Civil War.
Last week Minions broke records and all expectations at the box-office having one of the most successful animated debuts in history. It had a pretty considerable drop in its second week, but still managed to make an estimated $50 million dollars over the stretch. Surely Minions’ audience partially overlapped with Ant-Man’s which may have hurt both films. However, we should expect to see this movie hang around the top five for a few more weeks.
The other new debut in the top five was the Amy Schumer vehicle, Trainwreck. The movie made an estimated $30.2 million dollars its first week of release. The raunchy adult comedy is a return to form for director Judd Apatow and proof that Schumer’s star continues to rise. It will be interesting to see if it can carve out a niche in the top five or if it will get pushed out by next week’s new releases.
Coming in fourth place is Inside Out with an estimated $11.6 million dollars. Even more astonishing is that in the animated movie’s fifth week of release, it continues to go strong despite the variety of family offerings currently available. Clearly the original film and concept has struck a nerve with audiences who can’t get enough.
Rounding out the top five spots is Jurassic World. The dinosaur adventure continues its record-breaking run in its sixth week in theaters, with another estimated $11.4 million dollars. Which is a mere drop in the well compared to the total domestic gross of over $611 million dollars to date so far. Dinosaurs are back in style, so prepare for the onslaught of inevitable sequels and rip-offs coming down the pipeline.
Check out the complete box-office breakdown for the weekend of July 17th-19th, 2015.
| TW | LW | Title | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Ant-Man | BV | $58,040,000 | – | 3,856 | – | $15,052 | $58,040,000 | $130 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | Minions | Uni. | $50,200,000 | -56.6% | 4,311 | +10 | $11,645 | $216,692,000 | – | 2 |
| 3 | N | Trainwreck | Uni. | $30,200,000 | – | 3,158 | – | $9,563 | $30,200,000 | – | 1 |
| 4 | 3 | Inside Out | BV | $11,660,000 | -34.0% | 3,263 | -381 | $3,573 | $306,363,000 | – | 5 |
| 5 | 2 | Jurassic World | Uni. | $11,400,000 | -37.2% | 3,117 | -324 | $3,657 | $611,174,000 | – | 6 |
| 6 | 4 | Terminator: Genisys | Par. | $5,400,000 | -61.0% | 2,814 | -969 | $1,919 | $80,640,000 | – | 3 |
| 7 | 6 | Magic Mike XXL | WB | $4,500,000 | -53.0% | 2,577 | -799 | $1,746 | $58,636,000 | – | 3 |
| 8 | 5 | The Gallows | WB (NL) | $4,005,000 | -59.2% | 2,720 | – | $1,472 | $18,007,000 | – | 2 |
| 9 | 7 | Ted 2 | Uni. | $2,700,000 | -52.3% | 1,582 | -589 | $1,707 | $77,457,000 | – | 4 |
| 10 | N | Mr. Holmes | RAtt. | $2,489,000 | – | 363 | – | $6,857 | $2,489,000 | – | 1 |
What did you catch over the weekend? Was it any good? Let us know on the comment boards, , , and !
Source: Box Office Mojo