How Quantumania's Box Office Compares to Other Ant-Man and MCU Movies

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania made $104 million in its opening weekend, earning the biggest box office opening weekend of the Ant-Man trilogy. The strong opening is a sign of continued growth for Ant-Man movies, but as the movie intended to kick-off Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and introduce Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), how does it compare to the rest of the MCU and what does it mean for the rest of Phase 5?

The first Ant-Man movie concluded Phase 2 and earned $180.2 million domestically (27th in the MCU) and $519.3 million worldwide (24th in the MCU), which was still as a big success at the time since he's not considered a prestige character. Ant-Man and the Wasp upped the ante, adding more characters to the roster and also making a little more money ($216.6 million domestic and $622 million worldwide), so it's a good sign for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to continue that trend, but there's a few more factors to consider with Ant-Man 3's box office numbers and their implications for the rest of the MCU.

How Quantumania's Box Office Compares to Other Ant-Man Movies

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's $104 million opening weekend is the best opening weekend seen by any of the Ant-Man movies, which means it has a good shot at out-earning the other two Ant-Man movies over the duration of its box office haul. Unfortunately, the first two Ant-Man movies have some of the worst box office multipliers in the MCU, meaning their total domestic box office divided by their opening weekend box office, a measurement of their box office staying power, are a lot lower than most other MCU movies. Ant-Man's 3.15 Ant-Man and the Wasp's 2.86 are the MCU's fifth and ninth-lowest multipliers, respectively.

Since Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has only completed its first weekend at the box office, we can't calculate its multiplier or compare its legs to the first to Ant-Man movies, but if its performance is within the range established by its predecessors, it'll be in the bottom-tier of the MCU in that category. While Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania includes a far bigger team and even kicks off Phase 5 by introducing the MCU's next big bad, Kang The Conqueror, the movie's box office is so far behaving more like a typical sequel and not demonstrating any sort of larger MCU bump thanks to the presence of Kang.

As one of the worst-reviewed movies in the MCU, and only the second MCU movie to receive a Rotten score in Rotten Tomatoes, currently standing at 47%, tied with Eternals, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is by far the lowest scoring Ant-Man movie compared to the original Ant-Man's 83% and Ant-Man and the Wasp's 87%. Rotten Tomatoes doesn't always impact box office, but considering the weak legs of previous Ant-Man movies, it certainly doesn't help in this case. An 82 percent Rotten Tomatoes audience score paints a slightly better picture, matching the MCU's audience rating 82 percent average.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's Box Office Compared to Other MCU Movies

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the 31st movie in the MCU, but its $104 million opening weekend box office ranks in the dead center at 15th, slightly higher than the 14th-ranked Iron Man and 16th-ranked Spider-Man: Homecoming. February is historically known as a lower-performing month at the box office, but the only other MCU to receive a February release date so far is the original Black Panther, which is one of the MCU's best movies at the box office, with its $202 million domestic opening weekend box office still ranking fifth in the entire MCU.

Ant-Man and the Wasp's $104 million opening weekend comes in far below the MCU's $135 million opening weekend average and falls far closer to the $103 million box office average for Phase 1. Phase 2's opening weekend average claimed to $116 million, Phase 3's average opening was $162 million, and Phase 4's average was $142 million. While most of those averages are boosted by big team-up movies, Phase 4 movies were post-COVID and there were no Avengers movies in Phase 4. Including Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was surely intended to give the movie a box office boost to kick off phase 5, but it doesn't seem to have worked as intended.

Since Avengers: Endgame, the MCU's box office has trended significantly down. the COVID-19 pandemic surely plays a major role in the drop, with Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals representing the MCU's worst three-film box office stretch when it comes to opening weekend numbers, although Spider-Man: Far From Home's $92 million opening weekend is right in line with that bunch and can't be blamed on COVID. Spider-Man: No Way Home's $1.9 billion performance is a clear Phase 4 bright spot, but other than that the box office numbers mark a clear MCU decline.

How Much Money Will Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Make at the Box Office?

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If Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's performance at least roughly resembles the first two Ant-Man movies, meaning a multiplier between 2.86 and 3.15, its total domestic haul will land anywhere from $297.2 and $327.5 domestically. Both Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp made just over 65 percent of their worldwide gross internationally, so it Ant-Man and the Wasp continues that trend, it could end up with anywhere from $849 million to $935 million. Unfortunately, post-COVID MCU movies have a much lower 2.5 average multiplier, meaning a $742 million global total is a far more realistic upside, although it'll likely be even lower.

While Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's poor reviews and mediocre box office haul likely aren't the way Marvel Studios wanted to kick off Phase 5 of the MCU, the positive reception of Jonathan Majors as Kang and enthusiasm for other upcoming Phase 5 projects like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 means any potential stumbles associated with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania likely won't diminish or derail excitement for the future of the MCU. Declining reviews and weak box office could be a problem in the long term, but Marvel's track record suggests the franchise will continue to perform for years to come.

Next: Every Version Of Kang In The Post-Credits Scenes