'Ant-Man' sequel carries its weight with strong $120M long weekend
As expected, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (NYSE:DIS) dominated a cleared-out box office over the long President's Day weekend, hitting $120.4M and beating some top-end expectations that reached to $110M.
The Marvel sequel drew a heavy $106M over the traditional three-day weekend, a sign of strength: While it isn't among Marvel's top openings, it did mark the biggest opening of the three-film Ant-Man series despite lackluster reviews.
It also added nearly $130M more in international markets, which suggests that in the long run it may be tracking closer to $1B globally than the first Ant-Man's eventual $519M.
The weekend represented another where Disney pummeled moviegoers into submission, as its Avatar: The Way of Water was the long weekend's second-best film, drawing $8.1M in its 10th weekend in theaters.
The Avatar sequel has passed Jurassic World to become the ninth-highest domestic grosser in history, with just over $659M cumulative, with the currently re-released Titanic in its sights at $672.4M.
On a global basis, The Way of Water passed Titanic for the No. 3 all-time spot, $2.248B to $2.2456B in cumulative terms.
Rounding out the top seven films: No. 3, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (NASDAQ:CMCSA) with $7.1M; No. 4, Magic Mike's Last Dance (NASDAQ:WBD), with $6.2M; No. 5, Knock at the Cabin (CMCSA) with $4.6M; No. 6, 80 for Brady (PARA) (PARAA) with $4.5M; and No. 7, the re-release of Titanic (PARA) (PARAA) with $2.95M.
Also of note for the weekend: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a bloody horror film taking advantage of the lapse of character protection for the classic children's character, drew $738,740 in a 445-location run.
Cinema tickers: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWQ); Cinemark (CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (CGX:CA); National CineMedia (NCMI).