The mixed reception to Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is taking a greater toll on its box office than anticipated. The film grossed just $8.2 million on its second Friday — a colossal 82% drop from its $46.4 million opening day — and its weekend total is projected to drop 71% from $106 million last weekend to $30 million this weekend.
If that number holds, “Quantumania” will have suffered the largest second weekend percentage drop of any Marvel Studios release and any superhero film with a domestic opening weekend of over $100 million.
While hardcore fans turned out as they reliably do on opening weekend and have boosted the film’s audience Rotten Tomatoes score to 84%, the B CinemaScore grade and 3.5/5 PostTrak score suggested that casual audience interest would drop as it did for DC’s “Black Adam” last year. But these weekend totals are below the $35-38 million that analysts had predicted and suggest that “Quantumania” will not make much more than $200 million in North America as March blockbusters like “Creed III” peel away audience attention in the coming weeks.
It is possible that Universal’s “Cocaine Bear” played a secondary role in this big drop for “Quantumania” as competition for general audiences, particularly the young male moviegoers that usually show up for blockbusters.
Elizabeth Banks’ R-rated comedy thriller earned $7.6 million on its opening day from 3,534 theaters and is now estimated for a $21 million opening weekend. Trackers had projected an opening in the mid-to-high teens for “Cocaine Bear” with the chance of reaching $20 million if word-of-mouth was strong enough, and it seems that this film has done just that.
Still, early reception suggests a frontloaded run for “Cocaine Bear” similar to the one that “Quantumania” is facing. While Rotten Tomatoes scores are generally positive at 70% critics and 75% audience, CinemaScore polls returned a tepid B-. With 95 minutes of a cocaine-addicted bear mauling hapless humans, the appeal of “Cocaine Bear” may be limited beyond its opening weekend crowd, though it should be able to turn a decent profit against its $35 million production budget.
In third on the box office charts is Lionsgate/Kingdom Story Company’s “Jesus Revolution,” which is beating projections with a industry estimated $14.5 million opening weekend from 2,475 theaters. The movie earned $6.95 million on opening day, including $3.3 million from sneak preview screenings on Wednesday and Thursdsay.
The true story faith-based film retells the “Jesus Revolution” movement of the early 70s that sought to connect Christianity to hippie culture. As with most faith-based films, “Jesus Revolution” got mixed reviews from critics with a 55% Rotten Tomatoes score but rave reception from Christian audiences with an A+ on CinemaScore and a 99% audience RT score.
