Where the Data Ranks 2018’s Comic Book Films. Ant-Man and the Wasp Opens Big in China

Comic film adaptations are big dollars and we track how they do each week to see trends and what’s working and what’s not. This past weekend, Ant-Man and the Wasp came in at #14 for the weekend, slipping two spots from the previous week. It earned an estimated $1.8 million to bring its domestic total to $211.5 million. debuted in China where it brought in an estimated $68 million, the fourth largest opening for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in that market. The movie opens in Japan, its final market, next weekend. Internationally the film has earned $332.6 million for a worldwide total of $544.1 million.

With the debut in China, the film has not only passed the original domestically (both adjusted and not-adjusted for inflation) but it also has passed it internationally. With it yet to open in Japan, the film should do quite well and be somewhere above $100 million over the original. The sequel has a budget of about $32 million more than the original so it’ll need to that to even out profitability.

Avengers: Infinity War keeps bringing in the dollars earning $51,000 domestically. That total now stands at $678.7 million after 18 weeks, the longest of any film in the top 45. Internationally the film has earned $1.367 billion for a worldwide total of $2.046 billion.

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies dropped off the radar for the weekend box office but it still brought in a good chunk of change domestically and internationally. Domestically the film earned about $500,000 over the week but internationally the movie almost doubled its entire earnings now up to $9.2 million. Worldwide the film is at $36.9 million and will near a 4x multiplier of its budget by the time its run is complete.

Deadpool 2 wasn’t on the chart for the weekend, but the film added about $300,000 to its total over the week. Domestically, the film has earned $318.4 million and also $415.6 million at the foreign box office for a worldwide total of $733.9 million. The sequel lags the original in every way and with a much higher budget, it’s unlikely it’ll be as profitable as the original. It is the second most successful “X” film domestically behind the original (not adjusted for inflation) and worldwide the film is in third place (again unadjusted).

Black Panther has slowed down finally ending its theatrical run domestically. It earned about $50,000 at the international box office. The film is the top grossing domestic film of 2018 so far and isn’t likely to be passed. Worldwide, the film has brought in $1.347 billion. The movie is the rare blockbuster that has earned more domestically than it has internationally.

The Death of Stalin didn’t shift at all and looks like it’ll stay at earning $8,041,828 domestically.

I Kill Giants continues to be a weird one when it comes to numbers. Some more numbers have come in. According to what little we could find, it looks like the film’s domestic box office has brought in $183,754. All together, the film has earned a reported $263,621 at the foreign box office. The movie was released on demand at the same time in theaters, so the film has made money it’s just unknown how much.

Here’s where this year’s comic films stand as far as the actual numbers.

Total Domestic Gross: $1.945 billion
Total International Gross: $2.788 billion
Worldwide Gross: $4.733 billion
Total Reported Budgets: $797.1 million
Total “Profit”: $3.911 billion

Average Domestic Gross: $277.8 million
Average International Gross: $398.3 million
Average: Worldwide Gross: $676.1 million
Average Budget: $132.9 million
Average Profit: $543.3 million

Below is where the films released stand when it comes to being compared to this year’s averages. Those in green are above average while those below are red.