‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ buzzes to a marvelous $76M debut

Weekend’s top 5 films were all sequels with ‘Incredibles 2’ placing second

NEW YORK — “Ant-Man and the Wasp” opened with typical Marvel might at the box office, with an estimated $76 million in ticket sales.

According to studio estimates Sunday, the “Ant-Man” sequel easily surpassed the $57 million debut of the 2015 original in North America. The 20th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and the 20th to debut No. 1 at the box office — “Ant-Man and the Wasp” comes on the heels of two mammoth Marvel successes: “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.”

While the first “Ant-Man,” starring Paul Rudd, had a rocky road to release due to a late director change, the rollout of the sequel, directed by Peyton Reed, was smoother.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp,” with a reported production budget of about $160 million, may have performed well enough to firmly establish its place among Marvel’s more mainline superheroes. Reviews were good (86 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences gave it an A-minus Cinema-Score. Ticket sales overseas added another $85 million.

The weekend’s top five films were all sequels. The weekend’s other new wide release was Blumhouse Productions’ “The First Purge,” the fourth film in the low-budget horror franchise about an annual 12-hour period of lawlessness.

“The First Purge” debuted with $32 million over the five days, and $18.5 million for the weekend. A Staten Island-set prequel, it focuses on the ritual’s origins as a method of culling minorities.

Disney’s “Incredibles 2” passed “Finding Dory” to become Pixar’s top-grossing film domestically, not accounting for inflation. It earned $29 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to $504 million and its worldwide take to $773 million.

With $28.6 million in its third weekend, Universal’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” crossed $1 billion worldwide.

The “Mister Rogers” documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” continued to perform. Ranking ninth for the weekend (between “Tag” and “Deadpool 2”), it earned $2.6 million in 893 theaters. With $12.4 million in five weeks, it’s the year’s top documentary.

Boots Riley’s surreal satire “Sorry to Bother You,” starring Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson, made one of the year’s best debuts, per-screen, opening with $717,302 on 16 screens. The directorial debut of the hip-hop pioneer Riley, “Sorry to Bother You” is about a black telemarketer who’s catapulted into success after he adopts a “white voice.”

The Chinese film “Dying to Survive,” which has drawn comparisons to the AIDS drama “Dallas Buyers Club,” opened with $146 million in the world’s second largest movie market.