Ticket sales for Marvel’s third film Ant-Man starring hero Paul Rudd dropped 69% compared to its first week of release, reaching $105 million. This is the biggest second weekend drop in the series’ history…

Photo: CBR

According to data from the analysis company Exhibitor Relations, the Marvel superhero movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Vietnamese title:  Ant-Man and the Wasp: The Quantum World ) has sharply reduced its appeal to audiences. during the past weekend. However, in the absence of much fierce competition, the film still maintained its position at the top of the North American box office.

This latest Marvel superhero movie’s revenue decreased by nearly 70% compared to the time of its premiere. In its second week in theaters, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania  earned $32.2 million at the North American box office. Currently, the film’s total revenue in the region is 167.3 million USD, total global revenue is 363.6 million USD.

However, as the first “blockbuster” to open phase 5 of the “Marvel cinematic universe” (MCU), part 3 of the Ant-Man film series is expected to achieve higher achievement. Hollywood Reporter magazine said that the press and social network effects have affected the sales of “Ant-Man 3”. On the film criticism site Rotten Tomatoes, the film only received 48% positive reviews, along with “rain of criticism” from critics.

The screenwriter of  Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumani recently opened up about his new product. “Honestly, those reviews surprised me. I’m very, very underrated. Obviously these are all bad reviews, it makes me feel disappointed. I was really proud of the script I wrote for Kang and Dr. Hank Pym. I thought that was very good. But now I feel really depressed, very sad about it,” said screenwriter Jeff Loveness.

The latest Marvel superhero movie’s revenue decreased by nearly 70% compared to the time of its premiere.

Although criticized by critics and audiences, the film still recorded a great start with over 100 million USD in the first week and achieved the highest opening weekend revenue of the Ant-Man trilogy. “I don’t think the movie being criticized is a big deal,” emphasized Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “Ant-Man 3 has the best opening in the series, making up for any decline”.

Not surprisingly, the majority of  Ant-Man 3 ‘s profits  came from its first weekend. Because in reality, Marvel movies are increasingly being watched by audiences as quickly as possible to avoid content spoilers, and Ant-Man 3 with a budget of 200 million USD is no exception. In addition, theater owners – who set movie ticket prices – began charging more for blockbuster movies during their opening weekends. Therefore, it is natural that the number of viewers decreased in the second weekend, leading to a decrease in revenue.

Not only that, the film aimed at young male and female audiences is also ineffective when facing Universal’s new horror work,  Cocaine Bear . On February 24 alone, Cocaine Bear’s revenue reached 8.65 million USD, surpassing the 8.3 million USD figure of  Ant-Man 3 . “The end of the holiday weekend can’t save  Ant-Man 3 ,” said Shawn Robbins, principal analyst at BoxOfficePro. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie  Cocaine Bear  received a score of 71% from critics and many compliments for the work.

Ant-Man 3 lost to the low-budget film Cocaine Bear in terms of critics’ quality ratings.

Previously, the Marvel blockbuster dominated the global box office and had no competitors since its release. However, the revenue growth rate of Ant-Man 3 shows that the MCU is on the decline. Others feel  Ant-Man 3  not only offers stiff competition at the box office, but also that the latest Ant-Man installment extends a worrying trend for Marvel. Because this isn’t the only Marvel movie to see a significant drop in its second weekend of release. Pandemic era,  Black Widow  (down 67.8%),  Thor: Love and Thunder  (67.6%),  Spider-Man: No Way Home  (67.5%) and  Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness  (67 %) also suffered a similar situation in the second week of release.

In early February, nearly 11 years after its release,  The Avengers  was officially knocked out of the Top 10 highest-grossing films of all time at the domestic box office. With the success of  Avatar: The Way of Water , Marvel Studios’ first major crossover film is no longer in the top 10 domestic grossing films of all time. According to The Numbers, James Cameron’s next Avatar film has grossed 623,536,460 USD, officially surpassing the 623,357,910 USD of  The Avenger s. However,  The Avengers  is still in the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time at the global box office.

The success of Avatar: The Way of Water marks that The Avengers is no longer in the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time.

The fact that  The Avengers  fell out of the Top 10 highest-grossing films in the domestic market reflects how much this list has changed over the past decade. At the time the MCU Phrase 1 film was released, it was the third biggest film ever at the domestic and worldwide box office behind  Avatar  and  Titanic . The list of the top 10 domestic grossing films of all time has changed significantly and now includes films from the Star Wars, Jurassic World and Top Gun franchises. Avatar: The Way of Water  is also James Cameron’s third film to enter the Top 10.

If nothing changes, the Marvel universe in 2023 will welcome 9 new projects. Besides Quantumania which has just premiered, there are two movies,  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3  and  The Marvel s, the rest are all TV series. The manufacturer has confirmed that Phase 5 will last about 1.5 years (starting from early 2023 to mid-2024). As revealed by Cnet, there are up to 12 movie projects in Phase 5 and Phase 6 of the MCU. Meanwhile, there are at least 7 television series in Phase 5 alone.

According to CBR, each character in the MCU can have a personal movie/television series project developed by the company. This could put the majority of mainstream audiences in a position of having to watch all of these projects to keep up with the MCU’s massive timelines and character/event systems. Meanwhile, what God needs most right now is not massively exploring new timelines or characters, but projects with quality scripts and groundbreaking content like  Civil War , The Winter Soldier  or  The Avenger s before.