Marvel’s small but mighty “Ant-Man” fought its way to $19.4 million on Saturday night, pushing the superhero film to a $58 million box office debut.
This serves as the 12th consecutive No. 1 debut for Marvel, following movies like “The Avengers” and “Iron Man 3,” which brought in $207.4 million and $174.1 million, respectively.
Tracking services had initially projected a $60 to $65 million domestic opening for Marvel’s latest movie, with a production budget of $130 million. The Paul Rudd-led superhero story expanded internationally as it made $56.4 million. Globally, the film grossed in $114 million.
“Ant-Man” played at 3,856 North American theaters. 3D screenings of the film brought in $16.5 million on Friday and Saturday on 3,586 screens, which was around 41 percent of the film’s entire gross.
The film also delivered a global weekend of $9.1 million on IMAX screens in 36 territories and $6.1 million on 361 IMAX screens in just North America.
Director Peyton Reed’s film follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), who manages to steal a high-tech suit developed by retired scientist Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) that allows its wearer to shrink in size but increase his strength and power. The script is by Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, Adam McKay and Rudd.
The weekend’s other wide opener, Amy Schumer‘s “Trainwreck” is continuing Universal’s winning streak as it raked in an impressive $30.2 million. Predictions for the R-rated comedy had it bringing in an estimated $20 million. On Saturday night, it made $11 million.
Amy Schumer wrote the screenplay and stars as a sports journalist whose rejection of monogamy is tested when she meets a sports doctor played by Bill Hader. In addition to directing, Judd Apatow produced alongside Barry Mendel. The film had a budget of $35 million.
“Trainwreck” is another big win for Universal, with half of this year’s ten highest grossing movies coming out of the studio. These include “Jurassic World,” “Furious 7,” “Pitch Perfect 2,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and of course, “Minions.” On Friday, Universal broke an industry record, reaching the $5 billion worldwide box-office mark faster than any other studio.
Schumer is proving she’s a box-office draw with fans and critics alike. The R-rated comedy has a solid 85 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Moviegoers liked what they saw too, giving the film an “A-” CinemaScore.
Female fans came out in mighty numbers with 69 percent of the audience women. A total 66 percent of moviegoers were over the age of 25. It was Schumer who drew the audience to the box-office hit, with 28 percent citing the actress and comedian as their primary reason for attending.
“Ant-Man” has a CinemaScore of “A,” and a Rotten Tomato score of 79 percent.
More men went to see “Ant-Man,” 58 percent of the audience was male.
Illumination Entertainment’s “Minions” is still going strong, bringing in $50.2 million in its second weekend. Moreover, Universal’s earth-stomping “Jurassic World” made $11.3 million its sixth weekend, bringing the total to a whopping $611 million.
This weekend, the Amy Winehouse documentary, “Amy,” played on 435 screens and made $1.1 million, bringing its cumulative total up to $4.2 million.
Last year on this same weekend, “Dawn of The Planet of The Apes” continued to rule the box office, with a 3-day take of $36.2 million. Universal’s “The Purge: Anarchy” had opened at $29.8 million, as well as Sony Pictures’ “Sex Tape” starring Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz, which raked in $14.6 million.