Marvel Studios took home another $100 million opening weekend at the box office with the “Ant-Man” threequel, “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.” The new Marvel release had a huge opening, with an estimated $105.5 million for its opening three-day weekend, and it’s currently projected to finish with about $120 million for the four-day holiday weekend, per Deadline.
Elsewhere, James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” officially surpassed his previous film “Titanic” to become the third highest-grossing film of all time at the global box office.
‘Quantumania’ Leads Presidents’ Day Weekend, ‘Avatar 2’ Climbs The Ranks
This marks the biggest opening weekend yet for the solo “Ant-Man” franchise. The first film opened with $57.5 million in 2015. Its sequel, “Ant-Man and The Wasp,” opened to $75.8 million in 2018. Additionally, Deadline also clocks the film’s overseas weekend take at an estimated $121 million. That brings its worldwide total to $226.5 million for the three-day weekend through Sunday.
“Quantumania” did not fare well with critics, with its critics’ score currently sitting at 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score for a Marvel Studios film ever since 2021’s “Eternals,” which drew an identical score. However, Marvel Studios films tend to still draw big openings and are very frontloaded at the box office. It will be interesting to see how the sequel performs in subsequent weekends.
“Quantuamania” promised bigger action, scale, adventure, and thrills for Ant-Man and his supporting cast this time around, with the hero facing off against the notable villain, Kang the Conqueror, portrayed in the film by Jonathan Majors. Kang appears poised to be a major villain for the franchise, with “Quantumania” setting up future installments, such as “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” due out on May 2, 2025.
“Quantumania” also stars Paul Rudd, who returns as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp, Kathryn Newton as Scott’s daughter Cassie, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne. Peyton Reed returns to direct the third flick from a script by Jeff Loveness.
Meanwhile, at No. 2, Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” continues to perform at the theatrical box office, bringing in another $6.45 million for the three-day total and about $7.9 million for the four-day weekend. As of Sunday, “The Way of Water” officially grossed $2.2432 billion at the worldwide box office, surpassing the ” Titanic ” box office at $2.2428 billion.
“The Way of Water” has drawn an estimated $657 million domestically and $1.586 billion overseas to make it the third highest-grossing movie ever. Filmmaker Cameron now has three of the top five highest-grossing movies ever at the worldwide box office with “Avatar” at No. 1, “Avatar: The Way of Water” at No. 3, and Titanic at No. 4. The film has also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.
At this current rate, with its continued strong box office performance, “The Way of Water” will likely draw ever closer to $700 million domestically. The original “Avatar” finished at about $749 million for its initial domestic release. “The Way of Water” likely won’t reach that mark before it leaves theaters, but it will draw closer to $700 million and maybe even cross over it.
Coming in at No. 3 was the sleeper hit “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” which has continuously overperformed since its release in December. The film has now brought in another $7.05 million for the holiday weekend to bring its domestic total to about $167.8 million. Overseas, the film has made an estimated $421.6 million as its numbers continue to climb. Considering the animated sequel has already been released on home video-on-demand formats, its strong box office performance has been nothing short of impressive. The film also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Marvel’s “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” are all still playing now in theaters.
