Marvel’s “Ant-Man” Outshines Sandler & Gyllenhaal to Win Weekend Crown

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT 

July 24-26, 2015(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. Ant-Man ($24.7 million)2. Pixels ($24.0 million)3. Minnions ($22.1 million)4. Trainwreck ($17.3 million)5. Southpaw ($16.5 million)

Ant-Man beat Pac-Man in a head-to-head match, but just barely. The Marvel superhero movie remained in first place over the video game nostalgic Pixels. Still, less than a million dollars separate them, so Pixels could be the No. 1 movie after all. Regardless, Ant-Man is on track to make less than any of the other Marvel movies except The Incredible Hulk. $150 million might be its max.

Minions slid down to No. 3, but it's still made more than the first Despicable Me. But there's no way it can catch Despicable Me 2, which made more than $360 million back in 2013, despite opening lower than Minions. Meanwhile, Trainwreck fell to No. 4, but held on pretty well. Still, it's going to have a hard time living up to Knocked Up, which made nearly $150 million back in 2007.

That left Southpaw to settle for No. 5. The boxing movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal was lower than expected for Gyllenhaal and director Antoine Fuqua. The latter's Tears of the Sun opened bigger back in 2003. It's right in the middle for Gyllenhaal, whose career has had more ups and downs than any actor since John Travolta. 

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Phoenix, a German film that's gotten great reviews, with some even comparing it to Hitchcock's Vertigo. It made $14,000 on each of its screens.

- Paper Towns turned out to have a paper thin hold for John Green fans. It opened at No. 6 with only $12.5 million. That's a far cry from last year when The Fault in Our Stars opened in first place with $48 million.

- It's official: Jurassic World is now the third-biggest movie in both the U.S. and worldwide, with more than $623 million here and $1.5 billion globally. But even the Indominous Rex has its limits. It won't come close to topping Titanic or Avatar.

Next week: Mission: Impossible "“ Rogue Nation takes on Vacation. The Griswolds won't fare so well, especially considering it opens two days early on Wednesday. I think Rogue Nation takes the top spot with $50 million.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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