--- title: Ant-Man and the Wasp Brings in $76 Million for Its Opening Box Office Weekend description: The latest Marvel superhero film beat out the original "Ant-Man" opening by almost $20 million dollars during its debut box office weekend. authors: - name: Bloomberg url: https://money.com/author/bloomberg/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 34 covers: - Business - Career Advice - Education - Identity Theft - Lifestyle former_staff: true published: '2018-07-08T17:05:58.000Z' modified: '2018-07-08T17:05:58.000Z' section: Business tags: - movies - onetime word_count: 431 canonical: https://money.com/ant-man-and-the-wasp-brings-in-opening-box-office-weekend/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Premiere Of Disney And Marvel's "Ant-Man And The Wasp" - Red Carpet](https://img.money.com/2018/07/ant-man-and-the-wasp-box-office-weekend.jpg) *Paul Rudd attends the premiere of Disney And Marvel's 'Ant-Man And The Wasp' on June 25, 2018 in Hollywood, California.* Ants and wasps can spoil a summer picnic, but they brought good news to Walt Disney Co. at the weekend box office. *Ant-Man and the Wasp*, the latest superhero film from the entertainment giant’s Marvel division, opened with weekend sales of $76 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, research firm ComScore Inc. estimated in a Sunday email. That easily beat the $57.2 million opening of the original *Ant-Man* in 2015. Backed by its powerful lineup of Marvel characters, including *Black Panther* and *Iron Man*, Disney went into the weekend dominating this year’s box office, with domestic sales of $2.27 billion and a 36 percent share of revenue. That’s despite the underwhelming performance of *Solo: A Star Wars Story* since its May release. While the film landed within Disney’s weekend sales projection of $70 million to $85 million, it fell short of some analysts’ estimates. Analysts at Box Office Pro were expecting $82 million, while Box Office Mojo saw $88 million. The only other new film this weekend is *The First Purge*, a sci-fi/horror tale from Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures. The film brought in sales of $17.2 million to rank in fourth place. In *Ant-Man and the Wasp*, Paul Rudd reprises the role of the title character and his alter ego Scott Lang. Evangeline Lilly is the Wasp, aka Hope van Dyne. In this go-round, Lang is balancing parenting and superhero duties when he’s sent on a new mission by van Dyne and Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas. Critics liked the new *Ant-Man*, with the film earning an 87 percent positive score at RottenTomatoes.com, the website that aggregates reviews. *Ant-Man and the Wasp* cost $195 million to make, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified. That compares with the $130 million for the 2015 film. Neither figure includes the millions spent advertising and marketing the film. The original *Ant-Man* went on to collect $519.3 million in worldwide ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. *The First Purge* is a prequel to the dystopian *Purge* series that has already taken in $320 million in global box-office sales. In the latest film, a third political party arises, the New Founding Fathers of America. To reduce crime, the party makes Staten Island, New York, the site for a one-night free-for-all. But the violence is contagious and spreads. The film cost about $13 million to make and was expected to bring in about $19 million to $22 million in weekend sales, suggesting a profitable run for the Universal. 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