Ant-Man is facing the worst second-week box-office drop in MCU history
Projections suggest Quantumania will drop more than 70 percent this weekend, after a $100 million-plus opening
Today, in things getting improbably teensy news: Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania is on track for the single biggest second-weekend box office drop in Marvel Cinematic Universe history. This is per Variety, which reports that Paul Rudd and Peyton Reed’s third adventured centered on the Pym and Lang families is on track to make roughly $30 million this weekend, dropping 72 percent from its $106 million opening last week. That’ll likely still be enough to win the weekend—sorry, Cocaine Bear, you tried—but it’s still a massive plummet for a film universe that usually manages significantly more staying power than this.
(Variety goes on to note that it’s a pretty massive shrink even outside the bounds of the MCU; the only other movie to ever open apparently above $100 million one weekend, and then drop more than 70 percent the next, was Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2.)
Quantumania comes to this point after already getting some pretty rough treatment at the hands of critics; although audience scores are holding strong, it’s only the second MCU movie to log a “rotten” score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. (At least its percentage is hovering one point above 2021's Eternals.) Many critics have cited the film’s over-stuffed nature for its issues, pointing out the oddity of having Marvel’s most consistently comedic hero share the stage with the introduction of one of the biggest baddies to be introduced to the MCU in years, Jonathan Majors’ Kang. That’s to say nothing of the issues some viewers have had with the movie’s visuals, produced as they were by Hollywood VFX houses being pushed to their limits of late.
The real question, then, is what weekend 3 of the movie’s lifespan will look like—whether it’ll settle into a steady rhythm for the next few weeks, or continue to fade down into the mysterious alternate universe that shrinking scientists refer to as “Itsy-Bitsy Town.” As is, Reed and Rudd can at least content themselves with the knowledge that they’ve already surpassed the MCU’s lowest performer, the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie, which brought in a meager $134 million, total, across its entire theatrical run.