Two new movies hit the box office this weekend with very different targets and both got off to strong starts. Marvel is back with Ant-Man, starring Paul Rudd, while Universal has Amy Schumer’s film debut with Trainwreck.
Ant-Man started things off with $6.4 million last night, which is certainly strong for a lesser-known Marvel character, notes pro.boxoffice.com. Still, that is lower than last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy, another film with lesser-known Marvel characters. That movie started off with $11.2 million, on its way to a $94.3 million opening.
This new movie isn’t expected to open anywhere near as high as where Guardians ended up. Box Office Mojo is predicting around $60 million, which should be enough to beat Minions in its second weekend. Weirdly, Marvel is only showing Ant-Man at 3,700 locations this weekend, the smallest release for a Marvel movie since The incredible Hulk.
Up next is Trainwreck, which hopes to cash in on Schumer’s sudden popularity. The R-rated romantic comedy has earned good reviews and was directed by Judd Apatow. It earned $1.8 million last night and is expected to hit at least $25 million.
Should Minions drop by around 50 percent, it should hold on for around $55 million in its second weekend. Jurassic World and Inside Out can probably hold the fourth and fifth slots.
screenshot from Marvel YouTube Video