There’s good news and bad news for Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” The good news is that the blockbuster earned $46 million from its opening day in North America and is on its way to a strong $100 million-plus 3-day opening from 4,345 screens, blowing past the $75.8 million launch of its 2018 predecessor to earn the highest opening for an “Ant-Man” film.
If that figure holds through the weekend, “Quantumania” will also join fellow Marvel films “Deadpool” ($132.4 million in 2016) and “Black Panther” ($202 million in 2018) as just the third film to open to more than $100 million in February. Imax and other premium formats accounted for 43% of Friday’s ticket sales, providing a significant boost to grosses through their surcharges.
Industry estimates have the film’s 3-day opening reaching $115 million with a 4-day opening reaching $130-135 million, while Disney is projecting a 4-day launch of $110-120 million, a result that would be in line with pre-release projections.
On the flip side, reception for the film has been decidedly mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, critics have given “Quantumania” a tepid 48% score, just one point above the all-time low for the MCU on the site held by “Eternals.”
While the RT audience score is significantly better at 84% — consistent with past “Ant-Man” films — CinemaScore reported a B grade from opening night audiences, the same grade given to “Eternals” and below the B+ earned last year by “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” “Thor: Love and Thunder” and DC’s “Black Adam.”
While “Quantumania” is still on course to gross at least as much at the domestic and global box office as the last “Ant-Man and the Wasp” ($216.6 million domestic/$622.6 million worldwide), the early word-of-mouth points to a frontloaded run that could keep it from reaching the $760 million global total of “Thor: Love and Thunder.” That’s troubling for Marvel considering the film has been sold as a launching point for the next phase of the MCU leading up to “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” in 2025.
Internationally, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is doing well in most countries, grossing $52.6 million through its first three days in overseas theaters. Excluding China, “Quantumania” is currently 4% ahead of the pace that “Ant-Man and the Wasp” set in the summer of 2018 despite not having the advantage of school breaks.
But when China is included, the overseas pace falls 24% behind “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” which earned a $66 million opening from that market and a $121 million overall total. “Quantumania” is shaping up to make a fraction of that amount, having earned just $6.2 million on opening day as the first new Marvel release to hit theaters since “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in 2019.
