2023 is definitely looking to be a much stronger year at the box office with quite a few releases going all the way to September. It’s getting kicked off by Marvel Studios’ latest, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which is already eyeing a franchise-best opening weekend. It’s currently set to track $120M over a four-day period to use the Presidents Day holiday. The minimum expectation is $95M over three days with a conservative $105M to $110M by the end of the weekend.
While some may complain it won’t rival the recent releases, it’s a franchise-best as it’s 25% higher than Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s $75.8M opening in 2018. It’s also eyeing a $160M global start, which may include a long-awaited Chinese release between $35M to $55M. That would put it at a global launch at around $280M, but there is definitely potential. As it now opened to rather mixed to positive reviews with 63% on Rotten Tomatoes going by 70 reviews, it’s uncertain if that may impede its success a bit.
Though, many are looking forward to seeing who the “next Thanos” is going to be in Jonathan Majors‘s long-awaited arrival as Kang the Conqueror. There’s a chance the film may still score a positive A- CinemaScore and even the last B entries weren’t affected too negatively. Eternals was more of an indie film that may not work for everyone (especially with its long runtime and slow pacing), Thor: Love and Thunder took a very comedic direction even for Marvel’s standard and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dipped its toe enough in the horror genre that may have general audiences a bit squeamish (going by general horror reception).
The film is currently tracking 15% behind Thor: Love and Thunder opened to $144.1M over three days last year and still went on to make $760M on a B+ CinemaScore. It might seem like a $700M run is possible for the film but that also depends on how frontloaded it is; which is not uncommon for any of these types of films. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever also managed an impressive $828M global run, so even as Marvel Studios remains quite experimental, they aren’t slowing down at the box office quite yet. Only time will tell as we enter Phase 5 and its comparably bigger projects.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a whole lot of movie. Massive in scope, bold in its choices, and heavy on thrills, the blockbuster sequel is a lively, fast-paced deep dive into the weirdest corners of Marvel Studios’ ever-expanding universe. The film takes its titular terminology to heart by infusing a healthy dose of manic energy with the series’ signature sense of family fun, creating a unique experience that’s both fresh for the franchise and familiar to fans. Not every creative decision delivers, and the script can sometimes move too quickly for its own good, but what does land hits with impact and makes one thing perfectly clear – the Marvel Cinematic Universe now belongs to Jonathan Majors.
Since its inception, Quantumania has promised to be a bigger, “more important” affair than its light-hearted, mostly self-contained predecessors. Whether it really needed to serve this function is another question entirely, but there’s no doubt the project accomplished what it set out to do. Marvel Studios’ latest offering still houses much of the storytelling DNA that defines an Ant-Man adventure, but this time, the pint-sized entertainment comes with an innate feeling of gravitas. Where other Ant-Man flicks featured smaller, intimate tales highlighted by distinctly personal villains, Quantumania makes room for something much larger and far darker to wrap itself around the narrative. The aura of Kang, Majors‘ impressive new MCU antagonist, is enough on its own to push the film far beyond the Ant-Man series’ normally-relegated status, and it seems apparent Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel Studios understand exactly what kind of force they’ve secured for their future.
Much will be said about Jonathan Majors‘ performance in the film, and rightly so. The actor is a powerhouse. An undeniable presence on screen. When the Conqueror speaks, everybody listens. Majors is already a star, but his showing in Quantumania and the implications it has for the next several years of superhero cinema are enough to make him, and his character, names on par with Robert Downey Jr.‘s Iron Man. Faithful fans have been searching for the next face of Marvel since credits rolled on Avengers: Endgame, but they’ve been looking in all the wrong places. There is no hero coming to take the throne from Tony Stark. With Quantumania, the MCU has been overtaken by another power entirely. For the foreseeable future, all will bow to Kang, and the box office will be ruled by Majors.
Yet, despite Kang’s encompassment of the film, he’s not the only facet to admire throughout its two-hour runtime. Particularly, the visuals that compose the Quantum Realm’s stunning aesthetic do a lot to set the movie apart from its precursive outings. Quantumania’s writer, Jeff Loveness, once boasted that designs for the project were partially inspired by Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune, the great unmade science-fiction epic known for its proposed over-the-top imagery and colorful concept art. The delightful absurdity with which Quantumania presents its new characters and their world would suggest this is true and is a refreshing step forward for the genre’s overall embracement of comic book silliness and the awe-inducing joy it has to offer. Truthfully, there should be more comic-inspired films that treat semi-sentient houses and hole-less blobs as viable supporting players in large-scale action sequences. It’s good for the soul.
Also sufficiently understood, and often commented on by director Peyton Reed, is the importance of family dynamics and the relationship between Paul Rudd‘s Scott Lang and his daughter, Kathryn Newton‘s Cassie. Although it tries with everything it has to be a different type of movie than the first two installments, Quantumania still carries the Ant-Man name in its title, and therefore should also continue the overarching themes of the franchise. Thankfully, it does so and asserts the familial connections between its protagonists as driving forces behind the plot. Everything in the movie circles back to Scott and Cassie, from its chaotic third act to a memorable midpoint scene that rivals the Doctor Strange films in psychedelia. Without that, there is no emotional core to the film, and everything else fragments into an overstimulated mess.
Unfortunately, regardless of the many promisingly poignant seeds planted as potential talking points early in the movie, much of what could have become a weighted payoff seems to dissipate by the time of the film’s conclusion. This can probably be attributed to Quantumania‘s high-speed script, which barely gives even its most tragic moments room to breathe. Cassie is a character who cares deeply about humanity, and many of her concerns are raised briefly and then never subsequently addressed. Michelle Pfieffer‘s Janet van Dyne is finally given something tangible to do but is vastly overshadowed by the rise of Kang and pacing that feels eager for the plot to end. Even Quantumania‘s attempt at tying the story to the Ant-Man tradition of heisting quickly becomes just a simple fragment of the larger sensory storm at hand.
One may leave the theater wishing they had felt a little more than excitement, but if the goal is simply to arrive and undergo two hours of absolute crowd-pleasing, popcorn fun, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is the warm winter escape a moviegoer might be hoping for. Full of remarkable creature effects and gleeful moments of nerdy fulfillment, the movie is a madcap start to Marvel’s fifth phase. There should be no questioning where the MCU is headed after this. All roads lead to Kang, or some variation of him, and Majors is a steady hand to put the keys to the vehicle in. It’s his multiverse, and the Avengers are living in it.
Marvel Studios’ Phase 4 introduced audiences to more than a dozen new heroes, many of whom are (or on track to become) legacy heroes in the MCU. Kate Bishop and Yelena Belova have stepped into their respective roles as Hawkeye and Black Widow and Riri Williams is primed to become the MCU’s new Armored Avenger. Marvel Studios’ latest project, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, will see another legacy hero added to that list as Cassie Lang, who has long hoped to be a superhero like her Dad, will finally suit up.
There’s definitely a pattern forming and while it doesn’t only include young legacy characters (Sam Wilson has taken on the mantle of Captain America, there’s a new Hulk in Jen Walters and Jane Foster served as Thor for a spell), they certainly seem to be at the forefront. According to Quantumania producer Stephen Broussard, Cassie’s emergence as a hero is something inherent in the DNA of the Ant-Man franchise and not necessarily connected to the larger plan. “I think it’s very germane to the Ant-Man film because it’s a generational film,” said Broussard. “The Ant-Man mantle gets passed down from Hank to Scott and now essentially to Cassie, who’s almost more of like the new Ant-Man, even though she doesn’t go by such, more so than the new Wasp.”
Still, fans of the comics can see a pattern within the pattern of the young heroes being added to the MCU. Now that Cassie has assumed her mANTle as a hero, she joins Kate Bishop, America Chavez and Elijah Bradley as members of the comic book team known as the Young Avengers who have made their way into projects in the Multiverse Saga. WandaVision introduced and took away Billy and Tommy Maximoff, but with Joe Locke set to bring Billy Kaplan into the mix in Agatha: Coven of Chaos, it seems likely that Tommy Shepherd won’t be far behind. Should Teddy Altman and the Kang Variant Iron Lad make their way into upcoming projects, all the original Young Avengers (and then some) would be present and waiting for their team-up.
While Broussard denies that a Young Avengers project is in the works, he does admit that a pattern is emerging. “But a lot of Phase Four was about introducing the next generation and introducing new characters,” said Broussard. And if the Young Avengers are all hanging out in the MCU, wouldn’t it make sense for them to team-up? Broussard agrees it would be a good idea and teases it’s probably on the table. “I think that’s one of the themes that the next generation reminds us,” Broussard said of the idea of these heroes finding each other and working together, adding “and that would be exciting to explore with Cassie going forward, or with any of the new characters, like Kate Bishop. People like that, who have inherited the mantle, and keeping to fight the fight, and make the world a better place.”
In summary, Broussard said that yes, they wanted to introduce the Young Avengers in the Multiverse Saga and that yes, they’d like to see them all team up but no, there’s no Young Avengers project in the works. We hear you loud and clear, Stephen.
Evangeline Lilly‘s Hope van Dyne stands among Marvel Studios‘ most decorated female heroes, now making her fourth appearance in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Hope has undergone an incredible transition over the course of her appearances, providing Lilly with the opportunity to spread her acting wings and put her versatility as an actress on display. Ahead of Quantumania’s premiere, Lilly reflected on her character’s past and waxed hopeful about the future in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“She started the films as a very cold, very detached, very insular woman, who was independent and not reliant or really intimate with anybody,” said Lilly of Hope. “And now, suddenly, I mean, we’ve evolved through this third iteration of the story where she has redeemed her relationship with her father, she’s reunited with her mother, she has fallen in love with Scott and she’s also like a stepmother to Cassie.“
As happy as Hope is to reunite with her mother, Michelle Pfeiffer‘s Janet hasn’t been entirely honest with her family about her time in the Quantum Realm, which ruffled some family feathers, according to Lilly.
It was really good for me. It felt like we were entering a space that I was far more comfortable in. I was like, ‘OK, this is my jam now. Now we’re talking about the space where I thrive, which is more dramatic material. And I was excited to dive in with Michelle and Michael
Evangeline Lilly
Lilly’s excitement about the growth of her character led her to pitch a solo project for her character to Marvel Studios’ head honcho, Kevin Feige. And while Feige stayed non-commital, Lilly expressed her certainty that the time was right for the project.
When I first started, it was like, ‘No, no, no. Ant-Man and the Wasp, they’re a duo. They’re so good together. Three movies later, I’m like, ‘OK. Alright. We did it. C’mon, I want some time to tell a story.
Evangleine Lilly
Lilly’s passion for the character speaks for itself; however, Marvel Studios plans its work out several years in advance, so while there is certainly room for The Wasp, it may be a matter of years before fans can catch it in theaters or on Disney Plus.
M.O.D.O.K. seemed like one of the most unlikely characters to jump from the pages of Marvel Comics to the shared cinematic universe being created by Marvel Studios. Everything about the character seemed for too over-the-top for a live-action version to be accepted…and then came Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Against all odds, M.O.D.O.K., played by Corey Stoll, will make his debut in the film as a member of Kang’s Quantum Realm crew. The inclusion of the character, who was greatly reimagined for the film, was no easy task but thanks to the commitment and imagination of the creatives working on Quantumania, M.O.D.O.K. is ready for his grotesque closeup.
“For me, it was a personal thrill,” said director Peyton Reed about the inclusion of the massively craniumed character. “I was a kid who spent a lot of my childhood alone in a room reading Marvel comics. And M.O.D.O.K. was always this insane character. And he’s grotesque. He’s a giant head that has been turned into a mechanized organism designed only for killing,” explained Reed. “That was intriguing. So, we started talking about, is there a place in the MCU in the Ant-Man movies, for a live-action version of M.O.D.O.K.? And what would that look like and how would we go about it?“
Reed’s line of questioning was addressed by Marvel Studios’ Parliament member and Quantumania executive producer Stephen Broussard. “I mean, it’s a very odd character, to say the least,” stated Broussard. “It’s kind of loomed large in our imagination of how and if we could pull that off. You know, it always felt like a challenge, like, going back years, here at Marvel. And we hit on an idea. And we think we had an idea that we were excited about,” he added of bringing the character to the MCU. “And I don’t wanna say too much here in this forum,” teased Broussard, “but I think the time was right to bring M.O.D.O.K. to the big screen, finally.“
M.O.D.O.K. was almost certainly not on many lists as a character who would make their way into the MCU, but as Broussard said, the time was right and tying Stoll’s Darren Cross’s grotesque exit in 2015’s Ant-Man to M.O.D.O.K.’s classically discomforting look was a brilliant way to tie things together and find an in for the villain. Judge for yourself if Reed and Broussard made the right choice wit the character when Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania opens in theaters on February 17th.
In 2018, Evangeline Lilly‘s Wasp became the first female character to have her name in the title of a film in Ant-Man and The Wasp. The Wasp is back (and back in the title) in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and the character has undergone significant growth since being introduced in 2015’s Ant-Man. With Scarlett Johannson‘s Black Widow off the board, The Wasp now shares the title of the MCU’s longest-tenured female lead with Zoe Saldaña‘s Gamora and Elizabeth Olsen‘s Wanda Maximoff.
While there’s already been talk of a fourth Ant-Man film in the works at Marvel Studios, one that would almost certainly see Lilly return as Hope, the actress also has bigger plans in mind for her character. During the world premiere of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, Lilly expressed her desire to see her character star in her own solo project, “a Wasp standalone film.” During the global press junket for Quantumania, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, was asked about the prospects of such a project. “The opportunities within the MCU are endless, as they are in the multiverse,” said Feige. “So, we will have to see what happens in the future.“
Feige’s non-commital comments shouldn’t be read into too deeply. The head honcho of Marvel Studios wouldn’t confirm or deny the existence of such a project during a junket. Phase 5’s slate looks to be set and probably won’t even include whatever Peyton Reed and Paul Rudd throw together for Ant-Man 4; however, the Multiverse Saga is certainly not the end of the MCU and, as Feige says, the possibilities for its future are endless and those may just include The Wasp somewhere down the line.
Marvel Studios kicks off Phase 5 with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania on February 17th.
10 years ago, Paul Rudd may not have been on a lot of lists to portray a Marvel superhero. After making a name for himself in 1995’s Clueless, the actor had a great run of comedies in the early 2000s with memorable supporting roles in Anchorman, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I Love You, Man. Then, in 2015, Rudd debuted as Scott Lang, who has become one of the MCU’s greatest heroes. A lot has changed for Rudd–and Lang–since then and now he’s back for another go around as the MCU’s most everyman hero in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
As Quantumania begins, Lang and his family look to have put their superhero days behind them. Since the events of Avengers: Endgame, Lang has published, Look Out for the Little Guy, a memoir of his time in the suit. Memoirs require reflection and thus, during the global press event for the upcoming entry in the Ant-Man franchise, Rudd was asked to reflect on his time as Lang and about what he likes (and dislikes) the most about the character.
Well, I think what I like most about him is that he is a regular guy who has reservations about all of this, still. And that, you know, he’s just a dad. I like the fact that he is kind of a part of this group with some pretty impressive people, and superheroes, and that he would be the first guy to say, “What the hell am I doing here? This makes no sense at all.”
Paul Rudd
Rudd’s words certainly call to mind his first encounter with Captain America and the Avengers during the events of Captain America: Civil War. Lang’s superheroing has mostly gotten in the way of his best intentions with his daughter, Cassie, and his relationship with her has been at the core of the Ant-Man franchise. That relationship has drawn fans to the franchise and, unsurprisingly, is part of what Rudd enjoys the most about the character.
And, you know, he’s a real person. And so you want to play, I mean, as an actor, somebody who is relatable and hopefully a sympathetic person. And somebody that, you know, you understand maybe what they’re going through. And I like that. I like playing the father aspect. I like playing the, trying to, you know, wrap my brain around the situation that I find myself in. So his human quality is the thing that I like the most. And as opposed to probably his cyborg quality, which is the, you know, the part I don’t like. No, there’s nothing about the character that I don’t. I like the guy. Yeah. I mean, I’m biased, I guess, but yeah.
Paul Rudd
Rudd’s joke aside, Lang has become one of the MCU’s most lovable characters making it no surprise that Marvel Studios has already begun talking about a fourth Ant-Man film. That film is certainly a ways off given the studio’s already jam-packed slate, but it seems Rudd has more to offer the character before bowing out of the shared cinematic universe.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania debuts in theaters on February 17th.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hasn’t beenreleased in theaters yet but there’s already talk of a fourth installment in the Ant-Man franchise. Marvel Studios’ Parliament member and executive producer Stephen Broussard recently indicated that a plan has been hatched for another Ant-Family film, citing “whispers” between Kevin Feige, director Peyton Reed and himself. With Quantumania looking to take in $100M or so in its opening weekend at the box office, it’s likely those whispers will grow a little louder and that Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Kathryn Newton, Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas will all be reprising their respective role in Ant-Man 4.
While Newton’s MCU career is on its first leg, however, Douglas‘s may be on its last though it isn’t because the legendary actor is getting shoved out the door by Marvel Studios. Quite to the contrary, Douglas, who joined the MCU as Hank Pym in 2015’s Ant-Man seems to be ready to turn the page. When asked about his interest in returning for a fourth Ant-Man film, Douglas agreed he’d do it on one condition. “As long as I could die,” the actor joked about Pym’s return.
The 78-year-old Douglas has had a stellar career and should undoubtedly go out on his own terms. Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, have only played supporting roles in the MCU thus far and it seems unlikely that further films in the Ant-Man franchise would provide more opportunities for meatier roles. Perhaps there’s still more life for the characters in a 70s set Disney Plus series following their adventures, but if so it seems like Disney may have to look to replace Douglas.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th.
Though it could be argued that Scott Lang’s MCU history is largely comprised of “stealing some shit”, anyone who has seen the films knows how important his daughter, Cassie, has been to his journey as Ant-Man. Upon leaving prison, Lang tried to forge a strong relationship with Cassie, which seemed to be going well until Thanos’ snap trapped him in the Quantum Realm. Lang emerged from there to find he’d missed five years of Cassie’s life and that idea is central to the choices he makes in Quantumania, which puts their father-daughter relationship front and center once again.
“The Scott/Cassie dynamic is the spine of these movies, right?,” said director Peyton Reed in an interview with Comic Book. Reed went on to explain that from a storytelling perspective, the five-year Blip provided Quantumania’s creative team with a “gift.” “He’s an Avenger to be sure, but his biggest goal in life is to be a good father to his daughter and the events of Endgame gave us this gift, which is this [five-year time jump]. He’s always trying to find time with his daughter and he’s lost five more years.“
Cassie Lang, now played by Kathryn Newton, is no longer the little girl who wanted to be Ant-Man’s partner but rather a young adult who has her own ideas about what it means to be a hero. “Before he can blink an eye, he’s been relating to her as a little girl and now she’s a young woman,” explained Reed. “She’s 18 and now she has her own ideas about justice and about what being a hero looks like and she can be quite critical of her dad, and that’s seemed like a fun dynamic to fulfill.”
With talk of a fourth Ant-Man film and a Young Avengers project in development at Marvel Studios, it seems like Quantumania will serve as Cassie’s opening act as a hero. Now that she’s apparently a full-fledged member of the Ant-Family, it’ll be interesting to see the continued development of the dynamic with her father and follow their continuing adventures.
Jonathan Majors‘ Kang the Conqueror seems to be everything he’s been made out to be. The first reactions to the premiere of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania have revealed that Majors blew audiences away and that Kang is truly a threat unlike anything the MCU has seen before. Of course, Majors‘ first Variant of the character, He Who Remains, warned of the coming of someone such as Kang and now that he’s arrived, it’s hard to say just what it will take to defeat him.
He Who Remains and Kang the Conqueror are just two of the many Variants of Kang that Majors is likely to play in the Multiverse Saga and it’ll take more than different costumes to truly set the characters apart. To that end, Quantumania and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty writer Jeff Loveness had (and still has) his work cut out for him in creating the unique twists on the Variants that Majors will bring to life. During an interview at the Quantumania premiere, Loveness described how he developed the Conqueror for the film.
“Jumping off of Loki, where he’s more of a whimsical, kind of like an unexpected character, we just wanted to break expectations with this third movie,” said Loveness. “I think everyone kind of maybe expected a funny or a goofier Ant-Man villain,” he continued, “and so Peyton [Reed] and I said, ‘No, let’s put Ant-Man up against the most dangerous villain in the Multiverse and let’s do the opposite of what you saw in Loki. Let’s make this the worst of the worst.’”
Of course, all the written development in the world doesn’t matter if the talent bringing the character to life doesn’t stick the landing. As he’s done with every role in his career, Majors turned in a special performance and Loveness joined in on the praise for the talented actor. “And there’s a reason he’s here and I think Jonathan is incredible. I don’t think I’ve seen a screen actor like him in quite some time. The guy nailed every line and I’ve never had such a thrill writing like an actor like him before.“
Fans don’t have too much longer to see for themselves just what all the fuss is about Kang as Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th.
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