Entertainment

Ant-Man and the Wasp Failed Box Office Expectations: 3 Possible Reasons Why

It had a few small problems.

It’s only summer, but Ant-Man and The Wasp is the last Marvel Cinematic Universe movie for 2018. It had a big showing in its debut weekend, but it could have been better.

Ant-Man and The Wasp opened with $76 million over the weekend according to Box Office Mojo, which is $20 million more than the original. This still comes at the low end of expectations for the film that ranged from $80-95 million. Internationally, the movie took in an estimated $85 million to make a total global box office of $161 million. Although this is a win for Marvel, certain factors prevented the film from selling even more tickets to moviegoers in both the US and around the globe.

The Incredibles Effect

The biggest factor for Ant-Man and The Wasp not doing better in the US is the juggernaut Pixar film, Incredibles 2, which was the top box office draw since its debut on June 15. So far, Incredibles 2 earned slightly more than $500 million in its four weeks in theaters and took in $29 million this weekend. The summer is typically a busy time for movies and having a hugely successful one like the Incredibles sequel will make any other movie miss out on a few tickets.

China Blackout

In recent years, China’s film authorities institute a Hollywood blackout for the month of July. This means movie theaters across the country will only show domestic movies rather than films from the US. A big market like China means huge tickets sales for a blockbuster movie. For its opening weekend, Avengers: Infinity War made $191 million in China alone, so Ant-Man and The Wasp not opening in the country did hurt its overall ticket sales.

World Cup

For the US, the World Cup may not have stopped people from going to the movie theaters, but that’s not the case with other countries. Brazil’s box office numbers were lower than average, which can be linked to the country’s performance in the World Cup.

With $161 million in ticket sales and an 86 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes, Ant-Man and The Wasp did what a good sequel should do by improving over the original. Next week, it will content with the latest from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in Skyscraper on July 13. Then on July 27, Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible Fallout will open in theaters.

For those who watched Ant-Man and The Wasp, the post-credits scene was one to stay and watch.

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