‘Ant-Man’ Opens to $58 Million While ‘Minions’ Stays Strong in Box Office

By Cheri Cheng - 20 Jul '15 10:41AM

Marvel's "Ant-Man" performed better than expected in its opening weekend, debuting to roughly $58 million in the U.S. and Canada.

"Ant-Man," which had a $130 million production budget, stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, a thief who has just been released from prison who gets recruited by Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to help stop Darren Cross/ Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll). In order to stop Cross, Lang must wear a suit that shrinks in size, gives him superhuman strength and allows him to control ants.

"Ant-Man's" box office numbers were the second lowest out of Marvel's 12 stand-alone films, according to Market Watch. The lowest opening is currently "The Incredible Hulk," which brought in $55.4 million in 2008. Recent stand alone films, "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger," brought in $65.7 million and $65.1 million, respectively. Despite the relatively low weekend opening, the movie's appeal to the female crowd is promising. Women made up 42 percent of the audience.

"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," Dave Hollis, the head of distribution at Disney, said. "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."

Universal's "Minions" and "Trainwreck" had great numbers in the box office as well. "Minions," which is in its second weekend," brought in $50.2 million. The animated film brought in $115.7 million in its opening weekend.

The Judd Apatow-directed "Trainwreck," which was written by Amy Schumer, who starred as the lead female character, opened to healthy $30.2 million. The romantic comedy has received very good reviews. It also drew in a large female crowd.

"Amy Schumer is an absolute talent and should have a great career in the movies," said Nick Carpou, distribution head for Universal. "The character that she portrays very effectively enables modern women."

"Trainwreck" stars Bill Hader as the male lead.