Even with middling reviews and not much incentive to rewatch as a mythology episode or Ant-Man movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania effortlessly took the top spot for this weekend with a $104 Fri-Sun domestic debut, and it’ll appear to earn around $120 million (including Presidents Day). The debut is a 37% jump from its predecessor’s $75.8 million, and it’s the 31st consecutive MCU release to top the opening weekend. Any way one wants to object, it all qualifies as a win for Marvel’s latest threequel. Indeed, Marvel knows it can’t win all with its films when winding up the machine now, but people are still traveling for the IP, meaning it’s Disney’s S-tier platform to continue rolling in the big bucks. Yours truly would argue that the MCU’s track record is at 29-2 (the losses with the preposterous Eternals and Thor: Love and Thunder), even giving Ant-Man the benefit of the doubt for his third installment.
The feature also pulled in over $121.3 million overseas, bringing its total to $225 million in its opening weekend. China, UK, and Mexico contributed the most to the batch. If we look at comparables, legs like Deadpool will get the feature to $300-325 million domestically. Harsher legs would only get it to $250 million domestic, but keep in mind that it’s the only family-friendly feature until Shazam 2 rolls in next month. We’re probably looking at a worldwide finish of around $650-700 million (on a conservative front); if it overperforms, perhaps $750 million is not out of the question.
Disney’s other majestic news this weekend is that Avatar: The Way of Water is now the third-highest-grossing film of all time, with $2.243 billion. Take that James Cameron and your re-release of Titanic! Jokes aside, it also is the ninth-highest domestic title of all time, passing Jurassic World‘s $657 million. At this rate, it’ll work towards $2.3 billion and finish slightly under $700 million domestically. Sure, it won the world, but it couldn’t usurp Top Gun: Maverick in the domestic charts for 2022, meaning Tom Cruise is still as bankable as ever.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance added 1,538 theaters in its second weekend, getting a 33% drop. Maybe WBD was not wrong for tossing it into theaters than demoting it to a home release. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has passed the unadjusted gross of Sing 2, meaning it has done the unthinkable for recent animated titles; Shrek 5‘s announcement can’t come soon enough.
Finally, for fifth place, Shyalaman’s Knock at the Cabin took a lighter drop in its third weekend with only $3.9 million (despite losing 1,056 theaters). It has now earned $30 million domestically and $47.3 million worldwide. We’re still looking at a $60-70 million worldwide finish once it wraps up, meaning that the patented filmmaker still has his lust.
Next weekend sees the release of Cocaine Bear.
