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The MCU’s much-hyped return to China shaping up to end in box office disaster

All that for what's potentially going to be embarrassment.

ant-man and the wasp quantumania
Image via Marvel Studios

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been locked out of Chinese theaters for almost four years, with Spider-Man: Far From Home the last of the company’s comic book adaptations to be approved for a theatrical release in the country.

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Prior to being shut out of the second-largest market for cinema on the planet, Kevin Feige’s all-conquering juggernaut was a proven performer in the country, with 15 installments in the MCU cracking nine figures in China, ranging from the $100 million pulled in by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, to the whopping $629 million taken by Avengers: Endgame.

It might not be a coincidence that Spider-Man: No Way Home is the only chapter in the superhero saga to clear a billion dollars globally since the end of the Infinity Saga, but it’s looking as though neither Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are going to make much of a splash when they arrive next month.

Per local ticketing service Maoyan, there are 158,000 people interested in Wakanda Forever, and 115,000 registering their interest for Quantumania. By comparison, the buildup to Avatar: The Way of Water saw figures as high as 1.4 million before it hit multiplexes, so there’s a chance the MCU films could end up earning 10 times less than James Cameron’s sci-fi epic.

At the time of writing, the return to Pandora has rustled up over $230 million, so the MCU will need to shift opinions quickly to avoid another bruising defeat to Cameron’s $2 billion monster.