Warning: this article contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania!Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania broke the franchise’s opening weekend box office record. The Ant-Man trilogy finale managed to break the franchise’s box office record despite the negative critic reviews that undoubtedly play a role in the movie’s overall performance. Thankfully for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the movie is playing better with audiences than it did with critics, which helped the Paul Rudd vehicle have the best domestic opening weekend of the trilogy.
According to Deadline, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania debuted with a four-day $118 million ($104M three-day). That number puts Quantumania high above Ant-Man‘s $57 million opening weekend and Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s $76 million debut. Loki‘s He Who Remains connection to Kang and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s marketing focus on the introduction of Jonathan Majors’ villain was enough to send the message that the third Ant-Man is a bigger movie than the two that came before it. However, the movie’s middling critical reviews are still a bit concerning for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Was Not The Resounding Success Marvel Needed
The MCU’s Phase Four was by far the most divisive the cinematic franchise has ever been. Reception was mixed for almost every project that debuted following the climatic event that was Avengers: Endgame and the epilogue movie Spider-Man: Far From Home. Even Marvel realized the negative trend, with the MCU’s release plans for shows changing recently to address the mistakes of Phase Four. While Phases One-Three consisted of 23 movies, Phase Four alone amassed 17 projects over a two-year time span against the other Phases’ 11 years.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania officially kicked off the MCU’s Phase Five, but what was intended to be a resounding success with critics and audiences — setting up Kang to be the main villain of the Infinity Saga’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty — has sadly fallen short of expectations. Kang himself was terrifying and a force to be reckoned with in the movie, although Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania made it seem like Kang is dead in the MCU — with his variants assembling in one of the post-credits scenes to likely fight the Avengers. The new movie looked to be too busy worrying about setting up the future of the MCU.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania sometimes forgot about the fun to be had in a movie spent almost entirely in the zany Quantum Realm. While Kang’s setup for the next Avengers movie was interesting, the movie was at its best — and most faithful to the Ant-Man franchise — when it focused on Scott and the family going through the most unconventional scenarios possible in the Quantum Realm, including the origin of Marvel Comics’ MODOK in the MCU. As Marvel Studios reevaluates its current way of operating, the lessons learned by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s divisive reception could be invaluable for the MCU.
Source: Deadline