Ant-Man And The Wasp fly to top of box office with US$76 million

Jul 10, 2018 06:00 am

Ant-Man And The Wasp squashed the competition at the North American box office, opening with US$76 million (S$103 million) over the weekend.

With a production budget of US$162 million, the Marvel sequel's start is significantly ahead of the original Ant-Man, which debuted with US$57 million in 2015, and its overseas collection of US$85 million brings the worldwide opening to US$161 million.

Meanwhile, Incredibles 2 narrowly stole the No. 2 spot from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, with the blockbusters earning US$29 million and US$28.6 million respectively.

Praise seems to be strong for Ant-Man And The Wasp, which holds a promising 86 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. "We are really thrilled about the results," Ms Cathleen Taff, Disney's head of domestic distribution, said. "We continue to be amazed by what (president of Marvel Studios) Kevin Feige and the team do with these films."

Ms Taff also pointed to Evangeline Lilly - who plays Hope van Dyne aka the Wasp - as Marvel's first female title character, adding: "Kevin and his team always try to come up with a great story diversity. I think you see that come to play here." - REUTERS