If you thought the Marvel train would slow down after Avengers: Infinity War, think again. While nobody expects this week's Ant-Man and the Wasp to match those numbers, or even to come close to them, the projections show it is definitely reaping the benefits of the MCU's continued success. According to Variety, industry analysts are projecting as high as $80M for the Ant-Man sequel's opening weekend.
That number may seem small by Infinity War comparisons, and they are, but it's significantly better than the $57M debut of Ant-Man in 2015. That film went on to earn $519M worldwide, with more than $300M of that coming from overseas. Unless there's some unforseen crash we should expect the followup to best those numbers overall, and perhaps bust $200M on the domestic market.
If that pans out it will be music to Marvel's ears. The Ant-Man movies have lower stakes, less star power, and generally are presented as being off to the side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Paul Rudd's Scott Lang failing to make an appearance in Infinity War, there's some added curiosity about his whereabouts. Fans know there has to be a connection between the movies and that is probably playing a role in the ticket sales boost.
Ant-Man and the Wasp opens July 6th, and you can check out my review of it here.
