The release of the 31st movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has resulted in a debut of almost 360 million at the worldwide box office. A debut that has gone in parallel with James Cameron’s latest demonstration as the absolute king of the box office: two of his films are not only competing at the box office but are tied, and virtually tied, for third place in world history.
The Ant-Man saga, more than any other Marvel character, is perhaps the best example of what Kevin Feige and co have achieved with this colossal shared project: that a character like Ant-Man reaches 519.3 million in the first installment or 622.6 in the secondis the most obvious example of the rise that the studio experienced after the historic premiere of The Avengers circa 2012. Maybe not box office numbers comparable to other totems in the house of ideas but that, adjusting for inflation aside, Ant-Man is in numbers of what was then a huge box office success like Iron Man (585.7), attest to how far he has come after more than 30 films.
The film number 31 of this universe, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniadebuts at the worldwide box office with a solid 357.3 million. Of course, the 118 million of the 4-day debut (holiday Monday) in North America stand out, of which 105.5 correspond to the weekend as such. If we compare with the rest of the saga, we have that the first installment debuted with 57.2 million and its sequel with 75.8, so we see an increase of almost 30 million compared to that one. More if we count on the Monday holiday push up to 118 million. Applying a multiplier similar to that of the second installment (considering that the first one was reasonably positive), Quantumania could aspire to reach 300 million but the frontal character (loss of box office after the premiere) of said debut makes us think in a domestic final between 200 and 300 million.
At an international level (world minus North America) the debut at the box office is 239.3 million in which we highlight: 19.2 from China, 10.9 from the United Kingdom, 8.7 from Mexico, 7.2 from Korea, 5.3 from Australia, 5.1 from Indonesia , 4.5 from Germany and France. Somewhat modest figures that make us think that it will be difficult to surpass the 622.6 of the second installment and aspires more to the figures of the first: so let’s put an end between 510 and 540 million. A drop, particularly visible in China and Korea (where the fatigue of the superhero genre, and specifically of Marvel, becomes more evident), which should alert the studio with a view to Phase V that they just opened.
We said in the entry that James Cameron was competing against himself this weekend at the box office: and the fact is that chance has wanted the re-release of Titanicfor its 25th anniversary, coinciding just when the sequel to Avatar reached the same figure at the worldwide box office. During the weekend the two films have exchanged positions and currently Avatar 2 stands at 2243.3 million while Titanic it remains at 2242.8. Eventually the sequel to Avatar should win the battle and ratify itself as the third film of all time without adjusting. The doubt is, given that it is losing strength very quickly (something logical at this time), if it will be able to reach 2300 million. We believe that right now its end would be between 2290 and 2320 million. An extraordinary journey and figure, no matter where you look.