LOS ANGELES — "Ant-Man" crept past new opener "Pixels" to claim the top spot at the box office this weekend by an ant-sized margin. The Disney and Marvel superhero pic brought in $24.8 million over the weekend, bringing its domestic total to $106.1 million, according to Rentrak estimates Sunday.
"Pixels," meanwhile, just barely missed first place with a $24 million debut. While studios always hope for the bragging rights of a No. 1 debut, the real issue here is whether or not the Adam Sandler end-of-the-world comedy will make up its $88 million production budget.
"It's been a little competitive in the marketplace when you consider the extent of the performance of 'Jurassic' and 'Inside Out,'" said Sony's President of Worldwide Distribution Rory Bruer. "To get to where we opened to was quite good."
Critics were not fond of "Pixels," which shows 1980s video arcade game characters attacking Earth, but younger audiences still turned out to theaters — an estimated 62 percent were under the age of 25.
Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak's senior media analyst, said Sandler can still attract an audience, but the expensive film has a lot of ground to make up.
"They're really going to have to count on the international component. That's going to be key," he said.
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Overall, the box office is down 3 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Lucy" opened particularly strong. Dergarabedian said that though some are attempting to link last week's theater shootings to any dip in the box office this weekend, "the numbers just don't bear it out."
Holdovers "Minions" and "Trainwreck" took the third and fourth spots with $22.1 million and $17.3 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, the R-rated boxing drama "Southpaw" surpassed expectations and landed a place in the top five with its $16.5 million opening.
"Paper Towns," an adaptation of John Green's coming-of-age novel, opened in sixth place with $12.5 million. The Fox film only cost $12 million to produce, but considering Green's fan base and last year's massive $48 million debut of "The Fault in Our Stars," which Green also wrote, it's a bit disappointing.