Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania.”
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Disney’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” grossed $17.5 million in Thursday night previews and $100 million in its first weekend.
The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe flick is the franchise’s first entry in Phase Five, the middle phase of the Multiverse Saga.
Thursday’s issue of “Quantumania” is on pace with 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” which grossed $147 million during its opening. Earlier, 2015’s “Ant-Man” raked in $6 million on Thursday before raking in $57 million on its three-day spread. 2018’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” grossed $12 million on its Thursday debut and $76 million on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Thursday’s previews are included in the opening weekend total.
“‘Quantumania’ is on track to be the best February box office opener in five years,” said Sean Robbins, principal analyst at BoxOffice.com.
Hype surrounding the big screen debut of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) could help drive viewership to theaters this weekend. Kang is the next big bad of the MCU, as teased during his debut in the Disney+ series “Loki” last year.
Additionally, Robbins stated that moviegoers are being attracted to more expensive premium theater experiences for tentpole films such as “Quantumania” and that this is likely to increase ticket sales.
Weak critical reviews of the film Sambhavna will not be able to stop the viewers of the film. The film has a 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from verified critics as of Friday afternoon, but an 84% rating from audiences. “Quantumania” is one of only two MCU films to generate a “Rotten” rating on the review aggregator.
Disney also announced on Friday that it is postponing the release of “The Marvels,” a film centered on Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel and Monica Rambeau, to November 10. The film was earlier scheduled to start on July 28.
It’s unclear why the studio is pushing the release, but it could be an attempt to separate the material from the Marvel universe. “Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3” is set for release on May 5. In addition, the company has a few TV series slated to air on Disney+ over the next 12 to 18 months.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes.