Box office projections for Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania have been lowered heading into its opening weekend. Domestically, the superhero threequel is expected to make between $95 million and $100 million in its first three days, according to Variety, with the number increasing to $110 million across the four-day extended President’s Day weekend. A couple of weeks ago, the film was tracking for a $120 million debut.
Nevertheless, Ant-Man 3 is pacing ahead of both its predecessors, although it’s falling well short of the super-sized box office hauls some of the more illustrious Marvel Cinematic Universe projects tend to deliver. By comparison, the first Ant-Man film made a solid (if not spectacular) $57 million in its domestic opening weekend back in 2015. Its 2018 sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, delivered a $76 million debut. For further context, the most recent MCU releases have all comfortably cleared three-digits in their opening weekends — Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness delivered a $185 million debut, Thor: Love and Thunder made $144 million, while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever did $181 million.
Ant-Man 3 also happens to be only the second MCU film since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame to score a China release. Of course, China’s contribution to overall numbers has greatly shrunk post-pandemic — the Middle Kingdom barely allows imports at all anymore — but a projected opening between $35 million and $55 million will play a key role in the film clearing the $160 million overseas estimates that it is currently aiming for. This number could eventually fall anywhere between $130 million and $190 million. All in all, Ant-Man 3 is currently estimated to deliver a $255 million global opening.
The Ant-Man movies, starring Paul Rudd as a wise-cracking family man/hustler who is given a suit that has the ability to alter his atomic framework (read, size), have typically performed lower than most modern MCU movies. Both previous films were sold as palate cleansers sandwiched between main course items. The first Ant-Man tapped out with $519 million globally, while the second film finished with a little more than $620 million worldwide.
The MCU Franchise Will No Longer Be a Palate Cleanser
Director Peyton Reed, who also helmed Ant-Man 1 and 2, declared heading into this one that he no longer wanted his films to be perceived as counter-programming within the MCU, and made it a point to craft a more epic narrative. Ant-Man 3 also has the added responsibility of inaugurating the Phase 5 of the MCU, as well as properly introducing the franchise’s next major villain, Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors.
Majors is perhaps one of the few components of the film that has received unanimous praise. Reviews for Ant-Man 3 have been generally muted, otherwise; this is only the second MCU film ever, for instance, to get a “rotten” score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Collider’s own Ross Bonaime wrote in his review, “Quantumania is a promising, but shaky start for Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's just a shame it comes at the sake of the little guy.”
The film also stars Evangeline Lilly as Wasp, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym and Katherine Newton as Cassie Lang. Ant-Man 3 will be released in theaters on Friday. You can watch our interview with Reed here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.