Ant-Man and the Wasp Begins Pre-Production 'Soon'

Screen Rant

By Matthew Erao

Published Feb 10, 2017

Following the success of Marvel's Ant-Man, the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp is gearing up to begin pre-production in Georgia.

Like Guardians of the Galaxy before it and Doctor Strange after, Ant-Man was one of many films critics declared could become Marvel's first flop. Not only did all three films do exceedingly well at home and abroad, none of them were close to Marvel's weakest effort yet. Despite the rocky departure of Edgar Wright from Ant-Man, director Peyton Reed was able to deliver a dynamic, action-packed, and fun film thanks to a solid script and strong performances. One of the standouts of the film was Evangeline Lily as Hope Pym, the daughter of original Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his wife Janet. When the first film ended with the promise that Hope would be taking over her mother's mantle as the Wasp, fans were excited.

Following Ant-Man's success, it was announced that the sequel would up Lily's billing, as evidenced by its title: Ant-Man and the Wasp. Since then, we've learned that star Paul Rudd is once again helping to craft the script, that breakout star Michael Peña is returning, and that the movie will explore the Wasp in detail. We also recently learned that filming for the Ant-Man sequel begins in June in Marvel's favorite city, Atlanta. Now, it looks as if pre-production is right around the corner.

According to Atlanta Filming, who's found themselves in a very scoop-worthy city over the past few years, location scouting and various other forms of pre-production on Ant-Man and the Wasp are set to begin in Georgia's capital city very soon.

#antmanandthewasp starts local pre-production soon.— Atlanta Filming (@AtlantaFilming) February 10, 2017

It's become fairly common for blockbusters to begin shooting around a year before the film's release, leaving plenty of time for post-production. Considering how much the action in Ant-Man relied not only on CGI, but an entire filming unit dedicated to studying ants, it's no surprise that Marvel would be aiming to start rolling cameras this June. With the film releasing in July of next year, that would give them more than enough time. Knowing that, the myriad work of pre-production should naturally be right around the corner.

Though we don't yet know what the story of Ant-Man and the Wasp will entail, we know Hope will survive. That's not some corny aphorism, we just know the character will make it out of the film alive as she's set to appear in Avengers 4. Originally the second part of next year's Infinity War, Marvel is claiming it will now be its own beast. Lily will be one of the few actors sitting out the initial battle with Thanos, as Marvel is keen to save her superhero debut for her co-starring film which will arrive two months later. Hopefully, she'll have a good excuse for not helping the Avengers out.