Marvel’s “Ant-Man” clinched the box office this weekend with a $58 million opening in North America as the 12th-straight Marvel Cinematic Universe film to open at the top.
Although “Ant-Man” turned in a more modest debut than Marvel’s other films, with the second-lowest domestic opening ahead of “Incredible Hulk’s” $55 million, the movie bumped Universal/Illumination’s “Minions” off the top, surpassing the $50.2 million it brought in its
second week in theaters, according to CNN Money.
As a relatively obscure Marvel character, “Ant-Man” trailed far behind "Captain America" and the first "Thor" movie — both of which amassed
$65 million, according to The Washington Post. Nevertheless, moviegoers showed their support for the tiniest Avenger: The thief-turned-superhero character portrayed by Paul Rudd. Ant-Man is also set to appear in “Captain America: Civil War” next summer.
“The film is the latest example of the brand carrying the weight of familiarity with audiences and thus giving a relatively unknown character the top spot,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Rentrak, according to CNN Money.
“Ant-Man,” a humorous heist film, also proved to be one of Marvel’s lowest budgeted successes with only
$130 million in its budget, according to The Associated Press. It also appealed more to women, who made up 42 percent of the audience, and to families, with 28 percent of the audience, than most Marvel releases have previously.
“Most encouragingly in this one, the exit scores we're seeing from women — their likelihood to recommend and how much they enjoyed the film — was higher here than almost any film we've had,” said Dave Hollis, the head of distribution at Disney, according to the AP. “It's a great sign for what word of mouth should be for the run, but, two, what it means for how women think about these movies being for them as much as men might.”
With a such a strong result for “Ant-Man’” debut, there is talk concerning the possibility of an “Ant-Man 2,” according to the AP.
“I say this was a success,” Dergarabedian said, according to the AP. “This was never predestined to open with $80 (million) or $100 million. Marvel continues to evolve and surprised the audience. This was about a perfectly solid result for a brand new property.”
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