'Ant-Man and the Wasp' Buzzes to #1 While 'Incredibles 2' Tops $500 Million

It's another Disney-led weekend as Ant-Man and the Wasp claims the weekend's #1 spot. This marks the tenth time this year a film based on a Marvel comic character has topped the weekend box office. Also releasing this week, Universal and Blumhouse's The First Purge is the latest success in the now, four-film franchise, Roadside's documentary Whitney fell just shy of a spot in the weekend top ten and Annapurna's Sorry to Bother You was a smashing success in limited release. Disney's success this weekend also doesn't end with just the #1 film at the box office as Incredibles 2 became the first animated title to ever top $500 million at the domestic box office.

As we enter the second half of the year, and the 27th weekend of 2018, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has now claimed the #1 spot at the weekend box office nine times. The latest is this weekend's release of Ant-Man and the Wasp, the 20th installment in the MCU, which debuted with an estimated $76 million over the three-day weekend, out-performing 2015's Ant-Man by nearly $20 million.

One interesting caveat to the film's domestic performance, however, is just how big the film's Friday was compared to the rest of the weekend. Ant-Man and the Wasp's Friday gross accounted for 44.5% of its overall weekend gross, that's the largest in MCU history, ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron (44.1%) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (43.39%). However, before that's considered an issue, while Ultron only delivered a 2.4x multiplier, Homecoming delivered a 2.86x multiplier, the sixth best in the franchise, and the first Ant-Man enjoyed a healthy 3.15x multiplier. Ant-Man and the Wasp received a "A-" CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences, just a notch down from the "A" for Ant-Man, and 55% of the overall audience was male while 58% of the overall audience was over the age of 25. While the gender demographics are relatively similar to the first Ant-Man, the audience for the sequel did skew a bit older, as 48% of the overall audience for the first film was age 25 or older.

Looking ahead, should Ant-Man deliver on the average 2.75x multiplier for a film in the MCU we're looking at a domestic performance around $209 million or so while a performance on the lower end would be closer to $180 million.

Internationally, Ant-Man and the Wasp opened in approximately 48% of the overseas marketplace and delivered an estimated $85 million for a $161 million global debut, approximately +45% ahead of the first Ant-Man. Highlights include an impressive $20.9 million opening in South Korea followed by Mexico ($6.7m), Indonesia ($5.6m), Russia ($4.9m), Australia ($4.7m), Taiwan ($4.6m), Hong Kong ($3.6m), Brazil ($3.5m), Philippines ($3.1m), Malaysia ($3.0m), Thailand ($3.0m). Future openings include a July 18 release in France followed by Germany (7/26), UK (8/2), Italy (8/14) and Japan (8/31).

Finishing in second is Disney and Pixar's Incredibles 2 delivering an estimated $29 million for a domestic cume that now stands at $504.3 million. This makes Incredibles 2 the first animated movie to ever top $500 million, which, of course, makes it the highest grossing animated title ever. The Pixar sequel is now just shy of topping Disney's Beauty and the Beast to become the 11th highest grossing domestic release of all-time and should have no problem moving into the top ten.

Internationally, Incredibles 2 debuted in France this weekend with an estimated $10.6 million (including previews). France quickly ranks as the sixth largest market for Incredibles 2 behind China ($48.7m), Mexico ($33.8m), Australia ($24.6m), Brazil ($15.4m) and Russia ($14.3m). The film has so far grossed $772.7 million globally and will debut in South Korea on July 19 and still has yet to open in Japan, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Coming in third is Universal and Amblin's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which brought in an estimated $28.5 million for the three-day weekend and has now pushed its domestic cume to $333.3 million as it begins its third week in release.

Internationally, after crossing $1 billion at the global box office on Friday, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom added an additional $27.6 million overseas this weekend, bringing the film's international total to $725.3 million for a global cume totaling $1.058 billion. 35 films have now topped $1 billion at the global box office.

In fourth we find Universal and Blumhouse's The First Purge, which debuted on Wednesday and finished with an estimated $17.1 million for the three-day for a five-day opening totaling $31 million. This is the fourth film in the Purge franchise, all of which have delivered strong domestic performances on very low budgets with 2016's The Purge: Election Year serving as the highest grossing of the lot, delivering just shy of $80 million. The First Purge looks as if it might not climb to the same heights as its predecessors after a slightly softer opening and a "B-" CinemaScore, but given the film's $13 million budget it doesn't take nearly as much for these films to turn a tidy profit.

Somewhat fascinating, this is the first film in the Purge franchise to play to a male majority with males making up 54% of the overall audience. It was also the oldest skewing of the franchise with 49% of the audience coming in at the age of 25 or older compared to 35% for Purge: Election Year.

Internationally, The First Purge debuted in 26 markets with an estimated $10.9 million. Among opening weekend markets, the film delivered a #1 finish in the UK with an estimated $2.1 million, the highest opening for the franchise (including previews). This is a notably strong performance given the impact of England's World Cup Quarter-Final game. Other openings include an estimated $2.1 million in France, $1.48 million in Germany and $1.14 million in Spain. Upcoming key markets include a July 20 release in Mexico, August 2 release in Russia and a late, December 6 release in Brazil.

Rounding out the top five is Sony's Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which dipped a hefty 61.6% in its second weekend, delivering an estimated $7.3 million for a domestic cume that now stands at $35.3 million as it begins its second weekend in release.

Elsewhere in the top ten, Ocean's 8 finished in seventh position with an estimated $5.28 million as its domestic cume now stands at $126.75 million, making it the second highest grossing film in the Ocean's franchise.

Also, Focus's Mister Rogers documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? expanded into 893 locations (+239) and moved up a spot in the weekend box office, landing in ninth position with an estimated $2.59 million, pushing the film's domestic total to $12.38 million making it the top grossing documentary of the year.

Just outside the top ten we find Roadside's release of Whitney, a documentary centered on the late Whitney Houston. The film debuted in a moderate number of theaters (425) and delivered $1.25 million.

In limited release, Annapurna's Sorry to Bother You was a smashing success, bringing in an estimated $717, 302 from just 16 theaters for a chart-topping per theater average of $44,831. The film will expand nationwide next weekend into 600-800 locations.

Next weekend sees the release of Sony's Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation into ~4,000 locations and Universal will debut the Dwayne Johnson actioner Skyscraper into ~3,700 theaters.