‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’- Opening Box Office Sales Soar High at $82+ Million

According to a midday update by Deadline Hollywood, the newest sequel in the Marvel universe, Ant-Man and the Wasp is expected to reach between $85 and $95 million in its opening weekend.

Today’s numbers, including numbers from early viewings on Thursday night reaching around $11.2 million, are expected to reach a total of $35 million. These expected total earnings fall directly between the premieres of both Doctor Strange ($85 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy ($94.3 million).

Thursday’s box office numbers outdid the first film in the series, Ant-Man, by nearly $5 million. The first film debuted at $6.4 million in its early viewings back in 2015. In fact, after making total of $11.5 million in its first night, it has already outdone opening numbers of Guardians of the Galaxy ($11.2 million), Doctor Strange ($9.4 million), and the Warner Bros. and DC hit Wonder Woman ($11 million).

Ant-Man and the Wasp marks Marvel’s 20th film, and it includes cast members Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Pena, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

UPDATE:

The ending number landed just beneath what was expected of  Ant-Man and the Wasp at $82.4 million for the first three days of the film’s theatrical release. This number lands a whopping 44% higher than the first film’s opening weekend, which landed at a respectable but significantly lower $57.2 million.

Coming in closest to Ant-Man’s impressive numbers is Incredibles 2 at $8.9 million on Friday and totaling to an insane $507.2 million since its release. This number makes Incredibles 2 Pixar‘s highest-grossing movie at domestic box offices.

Next in line behind the first-mentioned films are Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($8.9 million on Friday and $336 million total), The First Purge ($6 million on Friday and $32.4 million in total).

Marvel films are known to slow down ticket sales on Saturday’s after their release, and much of that is caused by the bulked ticket sales collected from the Thursday previews.

Ant-Man and the Wasp currently sits at an A- on CinemaScore.