‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ Tops The Box Office This Weekend With $76 Million
Variety reports that Marvel’s latest installment of their cinematic universe, Ant-Man and the Wasp, opened this Friday with a whopping $76 million. The sequel opened with nearly $30 million more than the first film did in 2015.
The film opened in over 4,000 North American locations on Friday and is already number one at the box office with The First Purge and The Incredibles2 trailing at spots two and three respectively. Variety also reports that the film collected a total of $85 million overseas, making its worldwide premiere total a whopping $161 million.
The reviews have been extremely positive for the latest Marvel movie. Ant-Man and the Wasp currently holds an impressive 86% on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, four points higher than the first film. The film sees Peyton Reed back in the director’s chair and stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly reprising their roles. The film also stars Walton Goggins, Michael Peña, and Laurence Fishburne.
Cathleen Taff, Disney’s head of domestic distribution, commented on the film’s success stating “We are really thrilled about the results. We continue to be amazed by what Kevin Feige and the team do with these films.”
Taff also noted the Evangeline Lilly’s role of Hope Van Dyne, a.k.a. “The Wasp,” makes her Marvel’s first female title character.
“Kevin and his team always try to come up with a great story diversity. I think you see that come to play here,” she commented.
The film proves to be another hit for Marvel. The company had a great start to its year with Black Panther followed by Avengers: Infinity War, both of which are hitting box office billions.
Marvel Studios now has an impressive 20 films under its belt and has seen each of its films hit number one at the box office. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has brought in an astounding $17 billion globally.
The MCU initiated in 2008 with the box success of Iron Man, which not only opened the door for the craze of superhero movies that followed but also helped restart the career of Robert Downey Jr. The MCU has made many of its actors box office hits such as Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Pratt. The MCU has already welcomed newcomers Paul Rudd, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Chadwick Boseman.
In addition to Marvel’s success on the big screen, the company has also seen success on the small screen as well with hit shows such as Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. and Agent Carter both which ran on ABC Network. The latest addition being Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger which is currently running on the Freeform network. It is also being met with positive reviews from critics.
Marvel is also seeing success with streaming networks Netflix and Hulu for several of their franchises. Netflix originals Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist all received second season orders by the streaming company. The second season of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage have both premiered this year.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is in theaters now.
