Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is enjoying advantageous circumstances despite a recent critical lambasting, as its impressive Presidents' Day weekend total proves.
Quantumania, Marvel Studios' third Ant-Man film achieved the best-ever opening of the franchise with a projected $120 million domestic total for the 4-day extended holiday weekend, which is well within the range in which it was tracking. It comes off a regular 3-day weekend total of $105.5 million, accounting for a Sunday performance of $25.7 million. As a result, Monday, which is still in progress at press time, is reportedly on track to add $14.5 million to the holiday weekend gross. Additionally, the threequel is expected to help the Marvel Cinematic Universe maintain a recent streak started by 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home since, according to box office analyst Gitesh Pandya, it's firmly on track to become the branding's fifth successive film to cross the $200 million mark domestically. Said streak would have been longer if 2021's Eternals had not limped to a $164.8 million domestic total.
Quantumania Makes a Presidents' Day Mark
However, any conceit of Quantumania's projected $120 million 4-day debut total smashing records with a Giant-Man-sized fist should be tempered. While the film has performed impressively -- especially considering the widespread rebuke at the hands of critics -- proverbial Pym Particles only enlarged it enough to become Marvel's third-highest Presidents' Day performance. The Ant-Man offering will earn less than half of what was achieved by the top-grossing entry, Black Panther (Feb. 16, 2018), which channeled the Ancestral Plane with enough power to put up $242.1 million. However, it was a bit closer to the second-highest, Deadpool (Feb. 12, 2016), which earned Marvel's Merc with a Mouth $152.1 million. Regardless, it's a number that's auspiciously competitive with two Marvel mega-hits, both of which were released in more fruitful, pre-pandemic times for the industry.
Of course, all of this occurs amid an intriguing intersection of opinions between critics and audiences. The film currently sits on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer with a 47% critical average, a stark contrast from the 84% with audience scores. With critics having had the first say about the film from advance screenings, Quantumania seemed destined for a disaster that even the film's villain, Kang the Conqueror, could not prune from the timeline. While the previous films, 2015's Ant-Man and 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp, traditionally provided a tonal respite for fans from the MCU's larger, continuity-building implications, critics generally derided the third film for deviating from the usual quirky smallness. Indeed, Quantumania shaped itself as a de facto Avengers film and thusly became intertwined with larger, outward-facing stakes that arguably overshadowed the film's heart in the difficult relationship between Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton).
However, the aggregate of popcorn-crunching casuals -- which exponentially outnumbers the critics -- enjoyed the onscreen spectacle showing the titular heroes venturing into the subatomic Quantum Realm to battle Kang (Jonathan Majors), whose performance was seen as a saving grace even by detractors. In fact, the actor's future in the MCU is about as secure as it gets, especially given what occurred in Quantumania's post-credits scene. Yet, one need not see the film to divine Kang's imminent status as Marvel's next cinematic big bad since his name is brandished in the very title of the 2025-scheduled megamovie, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Moreover, with Majors having debuted as the Kang variant "He Who Remains" in the 2021 Season 1 finale of the Disney+ series Loki, it seems that the actor is set to return for the show's upcoming second season, prospectively playing an even larger role.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is playing in theaters now.
Source: Twitter