Credit: Marvel-studiosPeyton Reed’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) may yet be a success!
From the very outset, things looked a little rough for the third installment in the Ant-Man franchise. Before the film was even released, it was given a “Rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the first Marvel film since The Eternals (2021) to do so. That, along with no small amount of discontent from the fanbase, superhero fatigue at large, a somewhat lackluster Phase Four, and the outlook for Ant-Man was not good.
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Opening weekend for the film seemed to quash those fears. With a box office take of $105 million, opening weekend looked fairly strong. It was, in fact, the first box office earning over $100 million in 2023, which boded very well for the film. Not to mention, in contrast to the extremely poor critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience rating was still quite favorable, at 83%. The second weekend was when things started to look down once more for the film.
Quantumania lost much of its momentum during its second weekend. In the course of just one week, the box office earnings for the film dropped from $105 million to just $32 million, marking the second-biggest box office drop in Marvel History. Looking at the numbers and all the other data, it’s easy to see how people both inside and outside Marvel Studios would have cause for concern. Industry experts don’t agree, however.
In an article from CBR, two experts posed their opinions as to why Quantumania still has the potential to be a successful film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. First, Paul Dergarabedian, a media financial analyst, suggests that movies that pass the $100 million mark early are “generally front-loaded”, meaning that it’s impossible to predict success this early on.
Secondly, Jeff Bock, another financial analyst, highlighted that opening weekend score as well. Bock reminded fans that Quantumania’s opening weekend was still better than both Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). In addition, although Cocaine Bear (2023) came in first during its opening weekend, Quantumania’s opening weekend was still better by nearly $20 million.
What does the future hold for Quantumania? That’s really up to the fanbase at this point. The critics have spoken and have almost all universally panned the threequel, but if these experts are to be believed, the fight isn’t over yet. Will this new adventure that can really only be described as somehow both zany and emotional overcome its early hurdles and be a new Marvel cult classic?
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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is currently in theaters and stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/The Wasp, Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne, and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Corey Stoll as Darren Cross/MODOK. Quantumania delivers some fantastic humor, action, and drama as Scott (Rudd) goes head to head against Kang (Majors), setting up the “Kang Dynasty.”
What did you think of Quantumania? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments below!