As Marvel fans start turning their eyes toGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumanianow looks set to become a box office blunder for Disney and the pint-sized hero’s worst entry yet.
Ant-Man 3is currently sitting at $469.7 million earned worldwide. Although that revenue is usually a number most films won’t come near touching, for Marve Studios' blockbuster budgets, it’s not enough to turn a profit, despite a promising premiere weekend. While still not reachingShazam! Fury of the Godslevels of disaster, new insights suggest theAnt-Manthreequel won’t even clear the $500 million mark that its predecessors comfortably surpassed.
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AsVarietyreports,Ant-Man 3“is expected to fall short of the roughly $600 million needed to break even,” with most analysts nowadays doubling any film’s budget to account for the studios’ marketing expenses before subtracting the cut cinemas take from ticket sales. InAnt-Man 3’s case, reshoots must also be factored in, just like Dwayne Johnson’sBlack Adam. So, considering the movie’s initial $200 million production budget,Quantumania’s financial outlook is not any better than the film’s poor feedback among fans and critics. These box office projects don’t account for the developing controversy involving MCU actor Jonathan Majors.
Comparatively speaking,Ant-Man 3’s box office haul is not much higher than Marvel Studios' early post-pandemic releases,Black Widow($379 million),Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings($432 million), andEternals($402 million), even with the added impulse it got from Chinese moviegoers. Out of those three,Shang-Chidid better due to its lower budget (reportedly $150m). This is likely whyDisney CEO Bob Igerhas stated Marvel Studios will be more mindful of its spending policies moving forward.
Seeing as movies likeCreed 3andJohn Wick: Chapter 4are killing itin movie theaters worldwide, it’s clear Marvel Studios' lesser films are no longer guaranteed hits, hence why the studio’s formula will have to be tweaked in the future. AlthoughAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniawill officially become the MCU’s seventh worst-grossing film ever, the story is much different when one realizes the only movies below it had far smaller production budgets or were hindered by the pandemic.
Generally speaking, excitement forGuardians of the Galaxy 3seems higher, but perhapsThe Marvels' allegedly poor test screeningsshould be taken more seriously. Over on Disney Plus,Secret Invasionwill look to reverse a similar streaming downtrend when it releases in June.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniais now playing in theaters.
