Tag: Ant-Man and The Wasp

‘Quantumania’s Writer Reveals They Considered Ant-Man’s [SPOILER]

The following article will contain spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. If you haven’t seen the film only continue at your own risk.

With any comic book property, there’s always the discussion if there truly are any stakes. Some have had ongoing accusations of superhero films not having any real consequences, as they need to make many more movies moving forward with their various superheroes. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s writer Jeff Loveness highlights, however, that everything was on the table even Scott Lang’s death. He even acknowledges the criticism that this story “didn’t matter” due to the status quo not truly changing by the end of the film.

They were. We certainly gamed out a ton of scenarios, but it just felt a little obvious. It’s up for debate, but it just felt like we’d be copying the Thanos approach where he comes in pretty heavy and wipes the floor with everybody. I certainly see the critiques and all that, but this is a multi-step story that we’re telling. It’s also an Ant-Man movie. I think people say they want that, but do you really want to see Paul Rudd get murdered in his third movie? It was all debated, all discussed and all gamed out, but in The Wizard of Oz, you don’t want to see Dorothy die and never go home. It’s supposed to be one of these classic adventure movies. If everyone gets eaten in Jurassic Park, I don’t know if you’ll want to see the next Jurassic Park. But I wouldn’t worry too much about Kang’s kill count. He’s going to rack up some kills as he goes along.
Jeff Loveness

It definitely sounds like they had every option on the table but wanted to avoid just repeating the same beats from previous movies or generally being too predictable. When asked if they even considered just having Ant-Man stuck in the Quantum Realm once again, he highlighted the fact that they’d “be copying the exact same beat from the end fo the last Ant-Man movie.”

Yeah, absolutely. That was all stuff we debated, and on paper, it seemed thrilling. But at the end of the day, we’d literally be copying the exact same beat from the end of the last Ant-Man movie. There also weren’t a lot of ways to go that were different from Endgame. If Scott gets trapped in the Quantum Realm like he does in the last movie’s ending, then the only way to go is that he gets out of the Quantum Realm like he does in Endgame.
Jeff Loveness

He goes on to highlight that their approach was to create this happy ending that might actually just be misleading. Scott Lang has a heavy burden on his back once again, and maybe the key to uncovering Kang’s true villainy in the multiverse given what he knows, or as Loveness puts it: “terrible sinking feeling that’s coming for him.”

Scott Lang, much like Spider-Man or Charlie Brown, is a man who’s been through constant pain, loss and sorrow. And so the more unexpected thing would be to maybe give him a happy ending, but with the lack of assurance that he has in the first act. There’s this ever-gnawing sense of dread in him, whereas at the top of the movie, he’s carefree while his family are keeping secrets from him. And now we end the movie with his family carefree, but he has this secret that he’s keeping. He has this feeling of approaching dread, and he’s choosing to bury that terrible sinking feeling that’s coming for him.
Jeff Loveness

It’s definitely an unorthodox approach hidden away in something familiar or audience. Ant-Man films are also not the ones where many would expect a major tragic death, and it would’ve been too obvious to just repeat what we already saw in the last Ant-Man post-credit sequence. Perhaps future films will add even more weight to the events of this film as we move further into the Multiversal Saga.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

February 24, 2023
‘Quantumania’ Writer’s Kang the Conqueror is Inspired by Napoleon

Jeff Loveness had the challenge of truly introducing audiences to the main big bad of Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga. While we did get a glimpse of what Jonathan Majors has to offer in the season finale of Loki, we’re only now truly entering the age of Kang. So, the writer had quite the unique challenge ahead of himself to not only avoid clichés but also humanize a character that is bigger than one timeline.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Loveness revealed that he wanted to avoid repeating the time travel elements that were already explored in Avengers: Endgame by giving us a very different kind of villain. Instead of one just on the edge of success, we meet one that has lost everything he had.

With Kang, the danger was falling into another derivative time-travel multiverse villain. Endgame just did a time-travel plot in their movie, and there’s been plenty of time-traveling multiverse guys. And so I thought it would be interesting to approach the character first before we get to the more grandiose sci-fi elements of him. Peyton and I stumbled across the idea of Napoleon in exile, where he’s cut off from most of his time powers. We catch him at the end of a story that we just don’t know about yet. Guys like Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar are defined just as much by their defeats as they are their victories, and so I thought it would be humanizing to show a Kang who’s just been defeated. He’s like a Julius Caesar who was just assassinated by fifty other Julius Caesars and sent away. Or he’s like Alexander who has just been turned back at India and has lost the worlds that he conquered.
Jeff Loveness

The comparison to Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great is also quite fitting given the version of the character we meet in this film. He’s lost everything and is dedicated to retrieving it at any cost possible. It definitely gives him an edge, as he tries to stay true to his iconic name and highlights just how dangerous he’ll truly be the moment we enter his cage.

Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights was an example I tried to use. I wanted more of a tortured anti-hero. I was a big X-Men guy growing up, and there’s no fictional character I love more than Chris Claremont’s Magneto. He wrote that character for like 40 years and put him through so many seasons of his life. And so just to write this Kang the Conqueror as a lion during winter felt like a really interesting place to begin with him. We can get his ethos and his passion, and then, by the time we see him or another variant of him again, we’ll have more room to play with him because we’ll know his vibe.
Jeff Loveness

It’s definitely an interesting approach and also highlights just how varied these characters can be. With a multiversal storyline, Kang right is the most diverse version of the main villain we’ll get in the MCU moving forward, and it’ll be interesting to see what other versions we may see.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

February 24, 2023
‘Ant-Man 3’ Writer Compares Working for Marvel Studio With His TV Experience

Marvel Studios has been quite strategic in hiring writers from Rick and Morty‘s writer’s room that has quite a bit of experience in the realm of science-fiction and multiversal storytelling. With the current new direction, it makes sense to get those writers that have talent in it. We had Michael Waldron tackle Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Jeff Loveness, who is currently promoting his film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the writer shared just how different his experience was, especially in the fact that he was able to work on this film on his own. While he does point out that Marvel has “a lot of cooks” and even praises Paul Rudd’s additions through his improv skills, but highlights that he got to write this film on his own.

[…] I come from the TV world where sometimes there’s just too many voices in the room. Some things kind of get lost at the table or everyone wants to get out that day. So it’s actually really rare and really exciting to be the only main writer on this, because I got to drive some weird ideas in there. And obviously, with Marvel, there’s a lot of cooks in there, and every actor and every person is going to have their own thoughts. But once again, I secretly got to write a huge weird movie all by myself, and that doesn’t happen a lot with these types of movies.
Jeff Loveness

Marvel Studios has actually been taking a new direction with most of their current films being from a singular writer, as most of their past projects were involved with a variety of projects. They commonly had multiple rewrites for their scripts and ongoing changes during production, but Loveness got a chance to tell a multiverse storyline that was very much his own.

It seems that just the fact he got to write the base script for Quantumania on his own. Even as critical reception was surprisingly harsh, his work did persuade Marvel Studios to have him tackle the script for their first big Avengers film in quite some time.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

February 24, 2023
‘Quantumania’s Jeff Loveness On What Makes Kang Different From Thanos

No matter who was going to be the main antagonist moving forward, we all expected comparisons to the original Marvel Cinematic Universe big bad, Thanos. While only making a brief appearance throughout the first three phases, Josh Brolin left quite an impression once he made his true arrival in Avengers: Infinity War. Now, we may get to spend a lot more time with the Multiverse Saga’s antagonist, Kang the Conqueror.

Jeff Loveness had the joy of writing the character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where we meet a very different version of the character that just faced his biggest loss. He’s only one of many Variants that are eyeing a multiversal war at some point in the future. The writer of the Ant-Man threequel got a chance to highlight what makes Jonathan Majors‘ antagonist stand out from the previous big bad.

And so that allowed us to really give Jonathan Majors an opportunity to show the sheer humanity of this character. It’s also the opposite of Thanos. Josh Brolin did a terrific job, obviously. So much has been said about Thanos, but he is a purple, CGI space alien. So it was thrilling to write for a human face and one as expressive as Jonathan Majors’. But there’s going to be plenty of sci-fi and conquering in these Avengers movies going forward, so my approach was to give people a taste of who this guy is.
Jeff Loveness

And what a taste he gave us. We not only had the “nice” version of Loki but also Quantumania‘s version that is hellbent on getting what he deserves. Loveness pulled from his comic knowledge to get a true feel for this character and compared him to Chris Claremont‘s iconic take of Magneto, as we see a character going through many events in his life instead of just what we are told.

Well, I think you root for someone who knows defeat. Thanos says that he knows what it’s like to lose, but we never see him lose until the end of Endgame. All he does is toss away the people that he loves and beat Thor’s ass. But yes, it’s a risk, and we certainly took some heat for it. But I am willing to bet that we are going to root for a guy that we’ve seen stumble and fall, much like Chris Claremont’s Magneto from those X-Men comics. That guy loses a lot, and we see how much pain he’s been through. And so by the time he really unleashes that rage, we’re on his side and we kind of get it. So I think we’re allowed to have a villain that takes a few shots along the way as [Kang the Conqueror or his variants] make their rise.
Jeff Loveness

He also compares it to Loki’s journey, who would become one of the most popular antagonists/anti-heroes in the MCU. He wants to ensure that “his defeat was a way to showcase his humanity and his unending passion.” The most interesting quote is that “Kang is not a guy that you can beat once; he is an existential problem” and highlights just how dangerous he will be in the future.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

February 24, 2023
‘Quantumania’ Writer Reveals His Pitch for Kang and Ant-Man’s Connection

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania does something quite interesting by taking what was seen as a “palate cleanser” franchise and forcing its small-time hero to take on the biggest villain they have yet to face in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jeff Loveness took on the daunting task to bring this new film to life alongside Marvel veteran director Peyton Reed.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Loveness actually reveals how he may have gotten the job and that was his pitch that established the connection that would tie Ant-Man and Kang the Conqueror together, the loss of time.

What probably helped me get the job was drawing the connection between Scott Lang and Kang the Conqueror. I’m a die-hard comics fan, but I don’t think they’ve ever had a conversation together in the comics. So, in the room, when I found out about Ant-Man 3 and that they were considering Kang as a villain, an idea just popped into my head of like, “Oh yeah, Kang the Conqueror is a time god. He’s this time pharaoh who’s lost more time than Scott Lang in the MCU.” And so that helped me put a very personal touch on it.
Jeff Loveness

He goes on to highlight that he pretty much “had a blank canvas” going into the project, but did highlight that Peyton Reed did have some ideas that he could eventually build the entire plot around; especially the visit of the Quantum Realm and a “more epic scale.”

That was pretty much it. When I walked in, I had no idea what to expect, but we basically had a blank canvas, so you just laid it out like it was. Peyton really wanted to do a tonal shift for this movie. He wanted it to be a more epic scale. He wanted it to be set primarily in the Quantum Realm, and Kang the Conqueror was on the table. So that was pretty much where I jumped off of, and it just seemed too good to pass up.
Jeff Loveness

He highlights the joy of tackling a big-budget “action-adventure movie” and the challenge of trying to balance the tones. With his comedy background, he saw it as a fun venture to tackle something this unique within a connected universe like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

February 24, 2023
‘Ant-Man 3’ Wanted to Add ‘The White Lotus’ Star Jennifer Coolidge as Hank Pym’s Ex-Fling

Jeff Loveness is seemingly on a promotional tour to talk all things Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While the film was critically mixed, the film still apparently worked for some going by Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score. and left an impression with the introduction of Jonathan Majors‘ Kang the Conqueror. Now that enough time has passed, the writer has a chance to share some insights into what may have been.

In an interesting reveal, it seems that the film may have almost featured The White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge as Hank Pym’s fling, Linda. As we uncover what exactly Janet van Dyne was up to in the Quantum Realm, we would’ve also found out about the failed relationships of Hank Pym. Sadly, it seems they never got “beyond a Zoom” call before the idea was scrapped.

I don’t think it even made it into pages, but we wanted Jennifer Coolidge to be Linda for a brief moment. It never reached beyond a Zoom between ourselves, but I had some good ideas there. We’ll save her for next time. I’m sure she’ll wind up in the MCU, sometime. She can be Doctor Doom.
Jeff Loveness

Coolidge has been getting quite a bit of attention since her standout role in The White Lotus, and her comedic chops would’ve made for a fantastic addition to the Ant-Man franchise. So, it’s a shame it never got together but it would be quite exciting to see her return in another Marvel Cinematic Universe project. While we highly doubt she’ll be Doctor Doom, there’s definitely a role out there that is perfect for her.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

February 24, 2023
Marvel Studios Prioritized ‘Black Panther 2’s CG Over ‘Ant-Man 3’

CG is always a hot discussion point online, especially when it comes to Marvel Studios’ productions. There’s an “it’s not the same” mentality since Avengers: Endgame wrapped and everything since Phase 4 has received quite further analysis in how exactly it looks. Interestingly enough, CG was praised for the work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, especially on the work bringing Talokan to life. Yet, the criticism returned with the CG-heavy Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; though some reactions even praised the CG.

Vulture has released another article from anonymous VFX workers sharing their experiences, where they unveiled that a lot of resources went towards Wakanda Forever. That isn’t too surprising given the film had an earlier release and there was a lot of pressure on a film that had the highest potential to be a big earner. Yes, Quantumania had a good box office opening but still is part of one of their smallest box office earners.

Wakanda Forever took precedence. It felt like the higher-up and supervisor roles were shifted around to put that on their plates and there was a smaller team working on Ant-Man. It was on the back burner — less of a pressing thing.

The biggest issue seems that there were some uncertainties from the director Peyton Reed, whose vision might have been changing during production and led to a point they could not return. It seems also the VFX artists were disappointed they didn’t have a chance to really bring the world to life and take shortcuts to keep the work at a certain quality. The biggest issue is when they had to take over other artists already started work which they highlight is “not how things usually go when you are working for other studios.”

I haven’t seen the finished movie yet. There were some cool sequences we were putting together that seemed promising. But there could have been more people involved on the project. Maybe more money spent. With a lot of these projects being worked on simultaneously, resources become thinner. The quality starts lacking. You can’t expect all of the VFX companies to give the highest-quality work, especially if you’re going to do it on a lower budget.

Thought another actually had a more surprising outlook, as he had less of an issue with the Quantumania work which highlights something commonly overshadowed when covering these issues: no one is affected equally. Marvel Studios is a client that works with production companies and from experience, if you are in an agency of any kind: you’ll always face last-minute changes and potential overtime trying to keep that alive. Yet, it doesn’t always affect everyone’s equality.

My experience on Quantumania was comparable to the majority of productions we [VFX specialists] work on and, therefore, not especially bad or difficult. I wouldn’t say other projects necessarily took priority or that morale was particularly bad (although one of my co-workers actually became unhappy because of the lack of work he was given on that movie — he spent days on standby only to end up doing nothing, and this went on for months). Our working conditions are often less than ideal, and Quantumania was just another in a long line.

One more artist did have some harsher words while also highlighting the stronger focus on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. They wished they would have pushed back the film, which we did see with The Marvels but likely due to it already being in the marketing cycle Marvel Studios could no longer really pull back as they otherwise would’ve just added more costs and less investment for the CG work.

A lot of us are sitting here thinking, The money is there. Why is it not coming down? Marvel spending a bit more money to pay more VFX people wouldn’t make that much of a difference for the executives all the way at the top. But if it comes down to them not being comfortable with their bank numbers and us working until burnout, we lose out every time. Honestly, I equate it to human greed.

At the end of the day, we don’t understand this CG model fully and the Internet’s overall reaction will remain the same even if these reports never saw the light of day. The CG work these artists accomplish is great and a lot of the criticism also mentioned by Vulture is fewer effects work-oriented but rather just the design choices that are done before it lands in the laps of these CG workers. Marvel Studios’ biggest issue is the freedom they want to give their directors which ends up leading to constant decision-making that adds changes throughout production.

There is a good chance this might not become a thing moving forward. More time does not always equate to better quality, as it also means more potential for changes and adaptations. Marvel Studios’ original production cycle was much shorter as Quantumania, The Marvels, and even Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 were all filmed back in 2021. There weren’t any film productions that started in 2022, very likely that they to take away any lessons they could and reshuffle how they will start moving forward.

While I’ll be on the side of “the effects were 99% of the time pretty damn good,” there’s always potential to get better. The Internet has a strong focus on singular effects that they deem “not great” while ignoring other effects issues you commonly see with any production. No film’s CG is perfect, as not everything is Avatar: Way of Water as that has a ridiculous production budget. Expecting every film to echo it will just add to the bloated budget issue already becoming apparent in Hollywood’s need to create big blockbuster success.

Ever since COVID, the market is flooded and people are overworked, not just in the CG department. Given time, things will change and we’ll likely see production studios like Marvel learn to make a change for the better. We’re just still seeing the post-COVID productions and the aftermath of that time. Plus, CG workers also need a union to protect themselves from this and create new standards in the industry. Marvel Studios is not innocent and that is evident, but we’re hopefully seeing a general positive direction after the chaos that was the pandemic’s effect on Hollywood.

Source: Vulture

February 22, 2023
‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Opens to Franchise Best

Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has topped the box office. The Ant-Man threequel managed to take in an impressive $120 million over Presidents Day weekend, beating out expectations. Perhaps more impressively, though, the film’s opening makes for the biggest opening for the Ant-Man films to date. The film’s opening is also the third-best opening for February and Presidents Day weekend, behind Black Panther’s $242.1 million opening and Deadpool’s $152.1 million opening.

Rich Gelfond, the CEO of IMAX, noted that $24 million of the film’s box office came from the premium format screens, calling it the first blockbuster of the year. “’Ant–Man’ is the first new Hollywood blockbuster out of the gate in 2023.”

Quantumania makes for the first $100 million domestic debut so far this year. Overall, the film took in $225 million at the worldwide box office, having earned $121 million internationally. While the movie didn’t quite take off in China as Marvel might’ve hoped, earning just $19.2 million, the film seems to be doing quite well despite its low rating among critics. Quantumania is currently sitting at 47% on Rotten Tomatoes following 308 reviews, but audiences don’t appear to feel the same way as critics – the audience score is currently at a solid 84% following 5k verified ratings.

For comparison’s sake, 2015’s Ant-Man opened to $57 million, while 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp opened to $76 million. While those films ended their runs with $519 million and $622 million, Quantumania is expected to end its run ahead of both titles.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing in theaters.

Source: Variety.

February 20, 2023
‘Ant-Man 3’ Faces Challenging Box Office Debut in Asia Pacific Markets

Not all is sunny with the latest release by Marvel Studios, as while it did manage to release in its predicted release window at $104M domestically over three days. The big surprise is a softer release internationally at $121.3M. As of now, the film is 13% ahead of the first Ant-Man internationally but 27% below its sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. Yet, the big reasoning here is that it had a very soft Chinese opening at 19M, which is quite a bit further away from the predicted $35M to $55M. It seems that it did receive a similar score to that of the first Ant-Man but was lower on another score.

Rotten Tomatoes soft score didn’t help and if you add in factors like a tired box office after Chinese New Year and a general lack of interest in Hollywood productions, it’s going to be a tough battle for the film in that market. We also can’t forget that Marvel films have been banned since 2019 and it was going to be an uphill battle no matter what was released in that market. Deadline also points out one rather interesting aspect: science-fiction has major troubles in Asia Pacific markets as even Star Wars has trouble establishing itself in these markets.

South Korea seems to have a similar development with these types of films, which doesn’t help matters much as both were key markets in the last two films’ releases. Still, Australia and European markets are performing ahead of the last two releases and could make up for the softer Asian release, but it does seem unlikely that the film will pass Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s global box office at this rate. It could have a chance at around $550M to $600M depending if that B CinemaScore will not overshadow any potential legs. The drop in the next weekend will give us a clearer picture.

Source: Deadline

February 19, 2023
‘Ant-Man 3’ Dethrones ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ as Third-Highest February Release

It’s been a nailbiting weekend for the box office, as many were unsure if Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may actually manage $100M opening. The B cinemaScore and critical reception made it a make or break situation. Now, for any other ffilm this would be a fantastic opening weekend even with an A score, but Marvel has more weight on its shoulders as one of the biggest franchises and money-makers for Disney. Still, the film surprised and pulled in an additional 33.8M over Saturday after a strong $46M Friday (including Thursday previews) and is set to close the weekend with $104M over three days.

Don’t forget, this is Presidents Day weekend and as such will probably wrap up around $118M. Keep in mind, those numbers can always fluctuate once the weekend wraps up. That would place perfectly in the more positive side of its initial prediction that was between $96M to $131M. So, the film certainly delivered on its box office promise even if the next weekends drop being the true indicator what kind of multiplier we can expect. A more mixed to positive word-of-mouth could still net it a 2.3 multiplier but given the Ant-Man franchise could surprise given how well it worked with children and families. It may have potentially found a niche that could carry the film further.

It should also be noted that the Saturday hold percentage wise is better than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (-36%), Thor: Love and Thunder (-40%) but not far from Eternals, who also shares the B rating. Deadline believes the draw of Kang the Conqueror may be balancing out any of the critical reception. The film opened 44% higher than Ant-Man and the Wasp and is now the trilogy’s biggest opener. Interestingly enough was playing evenly throughout the entire day. So, this is perhaps a more balanced experience than the other more frontloaded pictures, but only time will tell.

Overall, the film also pulled in a strong $121.3M worldwide and now stands at $238.3M worldwide. The film isn’t breaking any records worldwide and had a smaller opening in China with 19.2M but that market also hasn’t had a Marvel movie in quite some time release at the same as internationally. Deadline has pointed out that science-fiction adventures do have that habit internationally. As of now, the film is now the third highest opener in February ever following Black Panther ($242.2M) and Deadpool ($152.2M). It has now dethroned the former third place holder of Fifty Shades of Grey at $93M.

Even with the current critical and CinemaScore rating, there’s still expectation the film will become the highest Ant-Man entry, which it would manage by passing $622M. To reach though, it’ll need a better multiplier around 2,6 at least, which might be the biggest challenge. A rejuvenated market may help push its legs, as our only real comparison is during last year when fiilms barely had any momentum and multiple weeks of barely any major releases.

Source: Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety

February 19, 2023