It never got worse for the MCU than with ‘Ant-Man 3’, which holds a negative record for catastrophic cinema
Andreas Rivera
February 27, 2023 1:21 pm
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4 min read
After the delightful surprise, an evil awakening follows: ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ broke in phenomenally, and that could potentially cost the film a secure record.
Actually, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ was expected to be a phenomenal triumph for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The prelude to Phase 5 of the MCU introduces us to Kang (played by Jonathan Majors), the great villain of the current Multiverse Saga, and the fun trip to the quantum level should have erased doubts about the success of the most successful film series of all time, after the often mixed titles of Phase 4. However, things turned out differently.
Although the theatrical release of ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ was more successful than expected, the Marvel film received a lot of criticism from the specialist press. Fans in many places were unable to understand these negative reviews, but the general audience shared them, or at least was scared off by the poor reception. After the surprisingly good start, the film crashed with an announcement – and it made history.
In the USA, ‘Quantumania’ was able to hold on to the number 1 spot on the second weekend with a pick-up result of $32.2 million. However, this represents a whopping 69% drop in revenue compared to the first weekend, which is a hard blow for an MCU film, as reported by Variety. Even the commonly criticized Phase 4 films like ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ (67%), ‘Black Widow’ (67.8%), and ‘Eternals’ (62%), which received even worse reviews than ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’, did not drop as much.
In Germany, the Marvel title lost a comparatively moderate 39.7% and held onto the top spot in the cinema charts with 180,000 tickets and 2.05 million euros, as reported. However, the loss in the US market weighs much more heavily, and those responsible should accordingly ask themselves why. Negative reviews may have led many to reject going to the cinema and instead preferring to stream ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ on Disney+. However, cautious word of mouth may also have played a part, as the latest MCU title, along with ‘Eternals’, received the lowest CinemaScore of the franchise, which reflects the audience’s opinion. Repeat cinema-goers are also crucial for successful weekends after the opening. A historic drop in revenue indicates that ‘Quantumania’ failed to lure back a number of fans to the cinema.
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Due to this box office decline, the current Marvel film also runs the risk of missing out on the best box office figures within the MCU. After the first weekend, it looked like the third installment of the ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ franchise would achieve this. However, Deadline now estimates that ‘Quantumania’ will only make over $500 million worldwide. This should be enough to surpass ‘Ant-Man’ ($519 million), but it may not be enough to beat ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ ($622 million). For a film of this magnitude, which also aims to set up phase 5 and 6 with two new Avengers films, this is a dismal outlook.
Even compared to other MCU titles, this would be too little for such a film. If ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ cannot surpass the box office earnings of ‘Iron Man’ ($585 million), it would rank at number 23 on the list of most successful MCU films (via Business Insider). Keep in mind that there are 31 films in total, and those at the bottom of the list are usually the ones that were released during the pandemic and/or featured relatively unknown characters. For the potentially big finale of the ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ trilogy, this would be a devastating outcome. It remains to be seen how the MCU managers will react. At least, it had been announced earlier that the influx of Marvel series should be reduced. Maybe a little break is also what the fans and the franchise need. If you can’t get enough of the MCU, almost all Marvel titles are available for streaming on Disney+.
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