Superhero outing Ant-Man debuted to $58m at the US box office this weekend, the lowest opening for a Marvel film since 2008 but still a respectable total for a movie which has had a troubled gestation period.
Peyton Reed’s film had been expected to break the $60m mark, but dipped slightly lower. Only 2008’s misfiring The Incredible Hulk fared more weakly with $55.4m, back when the comic book publisher was a relative Hollywood ingenue and did not have the corporate firepower of studio Disney to buoy it.
Ant-Man failed to hit the heights of Thor or Captain America: The First Avenger (both $65m in 2011), though its superior performance outside the US should bring it into line with those movies. The film’s struggles began when it lost original director Edgar Wright due to “creative differences” just weeks before it was due to begin shooting. Given all that negative publicity – no previous Marvel film has had to contend with such obstacles – the Disney-owned studio will be delighted with a reported $114.4m global opening on the back of reasonable reviews.
Ant-Man stars Paul Rudd as the titular size-shifting crimefighter, who is recruited to adopt the mantle of Earth’s tiniest hero by Michael Douglas’s genius inventor Hank Pym. The Hobbit’s Evangeline Lily plays Pym’s daughter, who teaches Rudd how to fight.
Second place in the US chart went to last week’s No 1, Minions, which dropped more than 50% but still picked up a hefty $50.2m haul this time around for a two-week total of $216.7m.
Third spot went to the Judd Apatow comedy Trainwreck, starring the comic and actor Amy Schumer as a New York magazine journalist with an out-of-control lifestyle. In its first week of release, and with few rivals in the R-rated marketplace, the film scored a healthy $30.2m.
The top five was rounded out by enduring blockbusters Inside Out, with another $11.6m in its fifth week for a total of $306.3m, and Jurassic World, with $11.3m for a six-week total of $611.1m.
Bill Condon’s Mr Holmes, starring Ian McKellen as a nonagenarian version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s great English sleuth Sherlock Holmes, landed in 10th place with an encouraging $2.4m on debut. The mystery drama co-stars Laura Linney and Milo Parker in the story of a retired Holmes’ struggles with dementia and the resolution of one last, emblematic case.
Outside the top 10, Woody Allen’s new film Irrational Man debuted to an impressive screen average of $37,623 (total $188,115) from just five cinemas on limited release. The mystery drama stars Joaquin Phoenix as a philosophy professor experiencing an existential crisis who embarks on a relationship with a student, played by Emma Stone, who takes his classes.
US box office chart, 17-19 July
1. Ant-Man: $58m - NEW
2. Minions: $50.2m, $216.7m
3. Trainwreck: $30.2m - NEW
4. Inside Out: $11.6m, $306.3m
5. Jurassic World: $11.3m, $611.1m
6. Terminator Genisys: $5.4m, $80.6m
7. Magic Mike XXL: $4.5m, $58.6m
8. The Gallows: $4m, $18m
9. Ted 2: $2.4m, $77.4m
10. Mr Holmes: $2.4m - NEW
