Monday Update:

Marvel can do no wrong in 2018, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s third installment this year Ant-Man and the Wasp buzzed with $75.8 million.

The Disney sequel opened 32 percent higher than the original Ant-Man did in 2015.

The second- and third-place films were so close that they actually switched spots between Sunday studio estimates and Monday actuals, a rare occurrence.

When it was all said and done, Universal’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom finished as the runner-up with $28.6 million, a 53 percent drop. The title passed $1 billion globally on Thursday, the third film to do so this year after Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War.

Disney’s Incredibles 2 came just slightly behind in third place with $28.4 million, a 39 percent decline.

Universal’s horror prequel The First Purge started in fourth place with $17.3 million. That’s lower than any of the this decade’s three previous Purge installments.

In a feat that hasn’t been seen in many many years, four of the top 22 movies this weekend were documentaries:

• Focus Features’ Won’t You Be My Neighbor? about Fred “Mr. Rogers” Rogers stayed in the top 10, inching from 10th place to 9th place with $2.5 million.
• Roadside Attractions’ Whitney about Whitney Houston started in 12th with $1.2 million.
• Neon’s Three Identical Strangers improved to $684 thousand as it expanded its theater count.
• Magnolia’s RBG about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg came in 22nd with $357 thousand, after cracking the top 10 for two weeks in May.

Comparisons

Total box office this weekend was $188.2 million. That’s 5.6 percent above last weekend, but 8.8 percent behind this same weekend last year.

Year-to-date box office stands at $6.55 billion. That’s 9.4 percent ahead of this same date last year, a dip from the +9.8 percent the box office stood after last weekend.

Our full table of weekend actuals is below, after our Sunday update featuring more analysis.

Sunday Update:

Ant-Man and the Wasp buzzed its way to the top of the box office this weekend with an estimated gross of $76 million, which while at the lower end of expectations marks a big improvement over the first Ant-Man‘s $57.2 million opening. Meanwhile, The First Purge debuted reasonably well, giving Universal another successful entry in their ongoing action-horror franchise.

After opening with a great $33.8 million on Friday (including Thursday night previews), Ant-Man and the Wasp slowed its roll a bit as the weekend progressed, though as previously mentioned it improved upon its predecessor by a substantial margin while still coming in at the lower end of MCU opening weekends (it falls about halfway between Thor’s $65.7 million and Thor: The Dark World‘s $85.7 million). Nonetheless, this weekend’s performance makes it the third official MCU blockbuster of 2018, after Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, marking by far the most successful year the franchise has had in its history.

This year alone, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War have brought in a combined $1.37 billion in North America and an astronomical $3.37 billion worldwide, raising the MCU’s box office to even greater heights. Of course, no one expected Ant-Man and the Wasp to come anywhere near the performance of those films. Still, $76 million represents an impressive increase for the standalone Ant-Man series, which has been seen as something of a red-headed stepchild in the Marvel universe. It’s worth noting that, as opposed to the first Ant-Man – which introduced a character few outside the core fangirl/boy demo were familiar with – the sequel benefitted from heightened awareness for the title hero, who also previously appeared in Captain America: Civil War before getting his own follow-up. The film’s 86% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes also didn’t hurt.

Fighting it out for second were blockbuster holdovers Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Incredibles 2, with the latter coming out slightly ahead with an estimated $29 million. That brings the animated blockbuster’s domestic total to a massive $504.3 million total after four weeks in theaters. The Disney-Pixar release is now the highest-grossing animated film of all time domestically, having surpassed Finding Dory‘s $486.2 million this weekend. Additionally, it’s now the eleventh highest-grossing movie of all time in North America, surpassing the live-action Beauty and the Beast‘s $504 million total on Sunday.

At this point, Incredibles 2 will easily leapfrog over Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($532.1 million) and The Dark Knight ($534.8 million) to become the ninth highest-grossing domestic release of all time. And if it holds especially well in the coming weeks and reaches a multiplier that rivals Dory (3.6x), it could even surpass Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Avengers, which currently sit in eighth and seventh place on the all-time chart with a total of $620.1 million and $623.3 million in North America, respectively. It’s not at all clear that that will be the case, however, so we’ll just have to see how Incredibles 2 holds up in the weeks ahead.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom grossed $28.6 million in weekend number three, bringing the Universal blockbuster’s domestic total to $333.3 million. While substantially lower than its immediate predecessor by the same point in its run ($500.3 million), it’s nonetheless an impressive total that puts it at No. 4 on the list of 2018 releases, just ahead of Deadpool 2 and behind only Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Incredibles 2.

The weekend’s other wide opener, Universal’s The First Purge, debuted in fourth place with $17.2 million over three days and $31.1 million since opening on Wednesday, coming in at the lower end of expectations. While a good total relative to its reported $13 million budget, that three-day number is by far the lowest in the franchise, coming in $12 million below The Purge: Anarchy‘s $29.8 million debut. The audience for the horror prequel was 54 percent male and 51 percent under the age of 25, while its Cinemascore was a “B-.”

Fifth and sixth place went to sophomore holdovers Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Uncle Drew, which followed up on their better-than-expected debuts last weekend to gross an estimated $7.3 million and $6.6 million, respectively.

Dropping a substantial 61 percent from its opening weekend, Day of the Soldado‘s domestic total currently stands at $$35.3 million and is currently on track to meet or exceed the domestic cume of the first Sicario, which took in $46.8 million in the autumn of 2015. Still, that film boasted better legs than its follow-up, dropping just 37.6 percent in its second weekend of wide release and posting declines of less than 40 percent for a number of weeks afterwards. With a Cinemascore of “B” (in comparison with Sicario‘s “A-“), Day of the Soldado is primed for a more rapid decline than its predecessor.

Uncle Drew, meanwhile, held up slightly better, declining 57 percent from its $15.2 million opening last weekend. That gives the basketball comedy, which is based on a series of popular Pepsi ads, a healthy total of $29.9 million after ten days.

In seventh place, Ocean’s 8 brought in an estimated $5.2 million in its fifth weekend, giving it a solid total of $126.7 million in North America. The ensemble sequel has now surpassed the domestic cumes of both Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen (not adjusting for inflation). In eighth place, Warner Bros.’ Tag grossed an estimated $3.1 million in its fourth weekend of release, giving the R-rated comedy a domestic total of $48.3 million thus far.

Expanding to 891 theaters this weekend was Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which finished in ninth for the third weekend in a row with an estimated $2.5 million. With a total of $12.3 million in North America thus far, the Focus Features release is the second sleeper hit documentary of the summer after RBG, which opened in May and has brought in nearly $12 million domestically.

Finally, tenth place went to Deadpool 2, which brought in another $1.6 million in weekend number eight (surely its last in the Top 10) for a total of $314.5 million in North America.

Limited Release:

The acclaimed sci-fi/comedy Sorry to Bother You boasted the weekend’s best per-theater average in its limited debut, taking in an estimated $717,302 in 16 locations (or $44,831 per screen). Directed by Boots Riley, the buzzy film has a 94% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has benefitted from a large amount of hype leading up to release. The Annapurna release’s broad appeal will be tested as it expands further in the coming weeks, but this is an auspicious start.

The Whitney Houston documentary Whitney took in an estimated $1.25 million from 452 screens in its opening weekend, giving it a per-theater average of $2,765. The critically-acclaimed film played heavily to women, who made up 65 percent of the audience. The Cinemascore was an “A.”

Expanding to 51 screens in its second weekend of limited release, Three Identical Strangers grossed an estimated $717,008, good for a per-theater average of $14,059. That counts as a successful expansion for the Neon documentary, which has now brought in over $1 million since opening on five screens last weekend.

Overseas Update:

Ant-Man and the Wasp opened to an estimated $85 million internationally this weekend, including $15.5 million in Korea and $6.7 million in Mexico. That gives the film a global debut of $161 million. Major markets yet to open include India (July 13), France (July 18), and Germany (July 26).

After crossing the $1 billion mark worldwide on Thursday, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom added another $27.6 million to its overseas total, bringing its international cume to $725.3 million and its global total to $1.058 billion. International totals include an impressive $250.4 million in China (where the original Jurassic World topped out at $228.7 million), $48.8 million in the U.K. and Ireland and $29.2 million in Mexico.

Incredibles 2 took in an estimated $35.7 million overseas, bringing its international total to $268.4 million and its global cume to $772.7 million. Country totals include $48.7 million in China, $33.3 million in Mexico, and $24.6 million in Australia.

Weekend Actuals (Domestic)

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Studio Weekend Estimates (Domestic)

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