The time has come for Ant-Man and the Wasp to take center stage.
For it’s on this day (July 6th) that Marvel’s tiny-teeny sequel will begin its rollout across North America, and with scores of positive reviews already under its belt, we’re now learning that Ant-Man and the Wasp is off to a flyer at the domestic box office.
Per Deadline, the MCU’s 20th installment collected approximately $11M from Thursday previews – higher than Doctor Strange‘s preview night ($9M) – with some sources claiming that the rip-roaring adventure has the potential to climb to $13M once all the box office receipts have been counted.
If true, this would bring Ant-Man and the Wasp in line with Guardians of the Galaxy ($11.2M Thursday; $37.8M Friday; $94.3M opening), which is a significant jump up from the original’s box office debut, given Peyton Reed’s humble Ant-Man movie scooped up around $6.4M from its Thursday previews, before earning an additional $22.6M on Friday for an opening weekend of $57.2M.
So assuming these early figures are accurate – remember, they don’t come from Disney – Ant-Man and the Wasp could post an opening weekend in the region of $85M, higher than any forecast to date.
The Peyton Reed-directed sequel was initially slated for a $75M-$80M opening weekend in the States, so this can only be good news for Marvel Studios and the entire MCU. And as Deadline points out, select theater chains like AMC and Regal are hosting an Ant-Man double bill, meaning the sequel is expected to play across 4,206 theaters today – 3,000 of which are 3D venues. Of that total, around 400 are capable of projecting Marvel’s tiniest adventure in IMAX.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on Ant-Man and the Wasp as the weekend unfolds, so stay tuned for more.
