‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Has Box Office Buzzing With $104 Million Debut

Angelique Jackson When “Creed III” punched its way to the top of the box office over the weekend with a massive $58.7 million domestic haul, it knocked out a host of records. Directed, produced by and starring Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed, the MGM movie notched a franchise-best opening and the biggest domestic opening for a sports movie. With an additional $41.1 million Internationally, the film has already totaled more than $100 million worldwide. “Creed III” is also expected to become MGM’s first non-“Bond” film to gross $100 million domestically since the hit 2019 animated movie “The Addams Family.” There were other impressive stats, including the film’s “A-“ CinemaScore and ticket buyers reported to be 63% male, with 55% between the ages of 18 and 34. The statistics also illustrated a racially diverse audience where 36% were Black, 28% were Latino, 23% were white, and 13% were Asian, according to PostTrak data. The film, which Jordan shot with Imax cameras, also posted an impressive turnout on premium large format screens, with a huge 38% of the box office coming from those ticket sales.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Half a dozen movies in, and the bloodletting hasn’t eased up — or gotten less popular. “Scream VI,” the latest installment in the long-running horror series, looks to slash its way to new opening weekend heights at the box office. Paramount is releasing the film in 3,670 North American theaters on Friday. Based on early estimates, “Scream VI” is projected to debut to at least $35 million and as much as $40 million over the weekend. As of now, 2000’s “Scream 3” remains the franchise’s top opener with $34 million. Records aside, the newest entry is expected to improve upon the start of last year’s hit “Scream” (not to be confused with 1996’s “Scream”), which scored a solid $30 million debut in January. By bringing back franchise stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette — and adding in newcomers Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega and Dylan Minnette — to the quiet town of Woodsboro, 2022’s “Scream” earned positive reviews and ended its box office run with $81 million domestically and $137 million. Not too shabby, considering it cost $25 million and was released amid the omicron COVID surge.

MGM’s bet on Michael B. Jordan has paid off, as “Creed III” has knocked out box office expectations with a $58.6 million opening weekend from 4,007 theaters.

“Creed III” is packing a mighty punch at the box office.

projected to pull in $40 million its opening weekend. MGM is projecting $35 to $38 million, on par with “Creed II”s $35.5 million opening. The 2018 sequel brought $3.7 million from preview screenings that took place on a Tuesday night ahead of the extended Thanksgiving weekend in 2018.“Creed III” must take in more than $115 domestically and $214 million worldwide to beat its predecessor, while the first installment in the franchise made $109 million in the U.S.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter It’s the battle of the threequels at the weekend box office. Michael B. Jordan’s sports drama “Creed III” is taking on two-time champ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” at the movies, though the heavyweight boxer is expected to emerge victorious over Marvel’s tiniest Avenger. “Creed III,” which Jordan directed in his feature filmmaking debut, is projected to earn a trilogy-best $36 million to $40 million from 4,007 North American theaters in its opening weekend. Those ticket sales will easily be enough to defeat Disney’s superhero tentpole “Ant-Man 3,” which looks to add $16 million to $19 million in its third weekend of release. So far, the comic book adventure has grossed $170 million domestically and $366 million globally.

Some recent Broadway arrivals added both star power and box office receipts to the weekly grosses reports, with both Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Parade selling out (the latter despite some loudmouthed neo-Nazi protesters), and A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella coming close.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” continued atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second weekend in a row with £3.04 million ($3.6 million), according to numbers from Comscore. In its fourth weekend, Universal’s “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” collected £1.7 million in second place for a total of £20.4 million. Another Universal title, Elizabeth Banks’ “Cocaine Bear,” debuted in third position with £1.5 million. Studiocanal’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” debuted in fourth place with £1.08 million. Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” that earned £470,020 in its third weekend for a total of £4.9 million.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” set a new record over the weekend, but not for the reason Marvel would want.

Refresh for latest…: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office.

“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” in 2016.With a 10-day total of $164 million, “Quantumania” should have enough momentum to cross the $200 million mark at the domestic box office, but with such a steep drop it is now questionable whether the film will have enough fuel against stiff March blockbuster competition to even pass the unadjusted $622 million global box office total of the last “Ant-Man and the Wasp” back in 2018.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Universal’s horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear” blew past box office projections, earning an impressive $23 million from 3,534 North American theaters in its opening weekend. The blood-splattered animal adventure landed in second place on domestic charts behind Disney’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which all but collapsed in its sophomore outing. “Ant-Man 3” managed to remain in first place given its huge $106 million opening, but the comic book installment is suffering from negative word-of-mouth. It added $32.2 million from 4,345 venues in its second weekend of release, marking a brutal 69% decline from its debut. Now, “Quantumania” holds the ignominious distinction as the biggest week-to-week drop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including “Black Widow” (which plunged 67.8% while debuting simultaneously on Disney Plus) and “Eternals” (which fell 62% after equally bad reviews). Globally, the movie has generated $364 million, including $167 million domestically and $196 million internationally.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is taking a greater toll on its box office than anticipated. The film grossed just $8.2 million on its second Friday — a colossal 82% drop from its $46.4 million opening day — and its weekend total is projected to drop 71% from $106 million last weekend to $30 million this weekend.

J. Kim Murphy The box office can be an institution of simple pleasures. Hollywood releases the story of a rampaging bear drugged out of its mind and — what do you know? — the people roll out. “Cocaine Bear” drew a solid $8.6 million opening day gross from 3,534 theaters, a figure that includes $2 million in previews on Thursday. That places the Universal release ahead of projections heading into the weekend, which had the gory comedy pegged at a debut between $15 million and $17 million. But a fun online marketing campaign and a killer premise have given the film a strong position, with a debut north of $21 million now in the cards. That would mark an auspicious kick-off for “Cocaine Bear,” which carries a production budget of $35 million. Reviews have been a bit all over the place; the film carries a 51% approval rating from top critics on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences are also a bit lukewarm, as the comedy landed a “B-” grade through research firm Cinema Score, though a middling grade is fairly standard for a genre release with a horror slant. But, at the end of the day, “Cocaine Bear” is titled “Cocaine Bear”; the straightforward premise is now a proven winner and audiences can only see the film to believe it.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures and 21 Laps have enlisted Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as the screenwriters for their buzzy feature Gnomes, based on the breakout horror short from Dutch filmmakers Richard Raaphorst and Ruwan Heggelman, which remains in early development following Sony’s acquisition of film rights earlier this month, in a competitive situation.

Warner Bros/New Line/DC’s sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods hit early tracking Thursday and surprised many with a low projection of $35 million, which is under the first installment’s $53.5M opening in 2019.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” debuted in pole position at the U.K. and Ireland box office with £8.8 million ($10.6 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. In its third weekend, Universal’s “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” collected £3.1 million in second place for a total of £17.1 million. In third place, Warner Bros.’ “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” earned £888,435 in its second weekend for a total of £3.8 million. Disney blockbuster“Avatar: The Way Of Water” continued to chart with £531,213 in its 10th weekend in fourth place for a mighty total of £75.5 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” topped the box office chart in mainland China on its opening weekend, with a $19.4 million start. But the much-discussed arrival of the Marvel movie was weak compared its franchise predecessor. And its debut was not enough to reignite the China box office market. The film arrived in a fashion that was adequately signalled for marketing purposes. And it opened on a date that was coordinated with the North American and other international debuts. In the context of the Chinese market, the film also had the advantage of landing at a time when the big, Chinese-made, Lunar New Year titles were losing their power.

The Ant-Man numbers are in!

Despite receiving some of the worst reviews of any Marvel Studios film, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” has become just the third film to earn a $100 million-plus opening in February with estimates projecting a $104 million 3-day launch from 4,345 theaters. That total is 37% higher than the $75.8 million opening earned by the last “Ant-Man and the Wasp” in July 2018 and is the ninth $100 million-plus opening since theaters reopened in spring 2021.