Ant-Man has been a long time coming, and while analysts predicted an opening of $60 million - $65 million, it now appears as if the movie will finish somewhere around the $58 million mark. That makes it a flop, right? Far from it. While it falls short of the openings of Phase 1 origin story movies like Captain America: The First Avenger ($65.1 million) and Thor ($65.7 million), this figure is miles ahead of many other superhero films and by no means an indication of its ultimate box office success. With an 'A' CinemaScore from moviegoers and postive reviews, Ant-Man is a movie with legs. The problem Ant-Man faces is that Minions has proved to be a bigger threat than expected.
Deadline points out that Disney are happy with this result. It came in at #1 (their twelfth movie to do so) and marks the biggest ever live-action opening at the box office for both Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas. Overseas, Ant-Man opened in 37 markets this weekend and has earned over $56 million in the process. That might not sound like a lot, but it's tracking at +23% more than Thor and +44% more than Captain America: The First Avenger, so it's clearly going to more than make up for its lower than expected US debut internationally. "Overall, there wasn’t a place where it didn’t perform," says Disney's Dave Hollis. Wit a budget of only $130 million, Ant-Man already has a global haul of $114.4 million, and while it won't be bothering The Avengers just yet, theres no doubt that it's on course for a sequel if things keep going as they are now. What do you think?