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Box office: 'Ant-Man,' Amy Schumer's 'Trainwreck' both triumph

The Marvel superhero film 'Ant-Man' came in number one at the box office with a gross of $58 million, while 'Trainwreck' had a successful opening of more than $30 million. The animated film 'Minions' performed well in its second weekend, placing second at the box office.

Both the new Marvel film 鈥淎nt-Man鈥� and the Amy Schumer comedy 鈥淭rainwreck鈥� performed well at the box office this weekend, with 鈥淎nt-Man鈥� coming in first.

鈥淎nt-Man,鈥� which stars actor Paul Rudd as ex-con Scott Lang, who is recruited by scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to save the world by shrinking to a tiny version of himself, grossed $58 million, while the animated film 鈥淢inions,鈥� based on the characters from the successful 鈥淒espicable Me鈥� film series, came in at number two with more than $50 million. This weekend was "Minions's" second weekend in theaters.

Meanwhile, 鈥淭rainwreck鈥� placed third, grossing more than $30 million. 鈥淭rainwreck鈥� stars Schumer as a character of the same name who is against settling down until she meets and begins dating a sports doctor (Bill Hader). Judd Apatow directed the film and "Trainwreck" is his second-best opening for a movie after the 2007 film "Knocked Up."

鈥淚nside Out,鈥� which was released by Pixar earlier this summer, came in fourth, while the sequel 鈥淛urassic World鈥� placed fifth and 鈥淭erminator Genisys,鈥� the newest film in the science fiction saga, came in behind 鈥淛urassic.鈥�

This past weekend was an example of successfully wooing audiences with a wide range of genre options. Rather than opening two similar films in the same weekend, studios opted to have two very different films open together and both succeeded: those who didn鈥檛 want to see another superhero film could seek out Schumer鈥檚 romantic comedy and vice versa. This strategy succeeded earlier this year with the weekend that saw 鈥淢ad Max: Fury Road鈥� and 鈥淧itch Perfect 2鈥� open on the same weekend, two very different films that both triumphed at the box office.聽

鈥淓ach film absolutely found its target audience," Rentrak box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said聽of "Pitch" and "Mad" at the time. "They were running on parallel tracks, and both exceeded expectations by not cannibalizing each other. It was the聽perfect聽release strategy for two very different, high-profile films ... it really paid off handsomely.鈥�

The plan has fizzled at other points this summer 鈥� while 鈥淭erminator Genisys鈥� and 鈥淢agic Mike XXL鈥� are obviously two very different films as well, neither found much of an audience when they opened over the Fourth of July weekend, but their less successful openings can be attributed to factors such as poor reviews for 鈥淕enisys鈥� and the success of 鈥淛urassic鈥� and 鈥淚nside Out,鈥� which were still going strong when 鈥淭erminator鈥� and 鈥淢ike鈥� opened.

If Hollywood continues to provide audiences with a wide range of options, we could see more audience members heading for the multiplex as the summer continues.