Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania sets up the MCU’s future leading up to Secret Wars, so how much does the film have to make at the box office?
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Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Review – Kang Kicks Off Phase 5 With A BangAnt-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania Post-Credits BreakdownAnt-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania Post-Credits BreakdownHow Many Post-Credits Scenes Does Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania Have?Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania – Everything You Need To KnowAnt-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania – Everything You Need To KnowAnt-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania – Everything You Need To KnowThe MCU’s Quantum Realm ExplainedWhy Ant-Man 3 Recast Endgame’s Cassie LangWhat Ant-Man 3’s Quantumania Title Really Means14 Questions About The Quantum Realm, AnsweredThe Complete MCU & Ant-Man Movie TimelineThe Complete MCU & Ant-Man Movie TimelineAnt-Man’s Complete MCU Timeline6 MCU Movies & Shows To Rewatch Before Ant-Man & The Wasp: QuantumaniaMCU In Order – How To Watch The Marvel Movie TimelineMarvel Movie Timeline: A Complete History Of The MCUKey Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania ArticlesKey Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania ArticlesWhen Will Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania Release On Disney+?5 Reasons Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s Reviews Are So MixedHow Much Quantumania Cost To Make & What Box Office It Needs For SuccessIs Quantumania The Last Film On Paul Rudd’s Marvel Contract? What We KnowAnt-Man & The Wasp Complete Villains GuideAnt-Man & The Wasp Complete Villains GuideWho Is Kang the Conqueror? The MCU’s New Big Bad ExplainedWho is MODOK? The Marvel Villain’s Origin & Powers ExplainedHow Marvel Comics Answers Your Ant-Man QuestionsHow Marvel Comics Answers Your Ant-Man QuestionsHow Ant-Man Died In The ComicsHow Kang Was Defeated In The Comics15 Most Powerful Variants Of Kang The Conqueror From Marvel ComicsWho Is Stature? Cassie Lang’s Superhero Origin & Powers ExplainedTable Of Contents
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s box office needs to reflect the film’s importance for the MCU’s Multiverse Saga leading up to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. The first movie in the MCU’s Phase 5, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is set to be more than just a Scott and Hope story. Similar to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or Spider-Man: No Way Home, Quantumania feels much bigger and connected to the MCU’s overall story than the previous entries.
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Marvel has a tradition of expanding the scope and the scale of the third movie in an MCU trilogy. This happened to Captain America: Civil War, for example, which was closer to an Avengers movie than to a Captain America story. While that makes an upcoming MCU movie like Quantumania more exciting, it also raises the expectations regarding its box office.
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Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s Budget Was Likely Around $200 Million
There have been no reports regarding Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s budget so far. Still, using Marvel’s recent movie history as a parameter, Quantumania’s budget is likely around $200 million. As a comparison, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, whose multiversal scale is similar to that of Quantumania’s trip to the Quantum Realm, had a reported production budget of $200 million. Eternals, a team-up film of epic scale, also cost Marvel $200 million. Spider-Man: No Way Home, which can be compared to Quantumania in terms of being the bigger third entry in a trilogy also had a reported $200 million budget.
Marvel’s divisive Thor: Love and Thunder, the penultimate entry in the MCU’s Phase 4, reportedly cost $250 million. That said, Love and Thunder was already the fourth entry in the Thor franchise and the first one since Thor’s highest-grossing MCU movie Thor: Ragnarok. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, whose production took relatively long to wrap, reportedly stayed in the $200 million budget range, similar to most MCU Phase 4 releases. While a $200 million budget is usually associated with team-up films, the MCU’s solo films have now grown so big that such a budget makes sense. For example, Quantumania involves the entire “Ant-Man family” as well as Kang the Conqueror.
How Much Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania Needs For Box Office Success
Given that production budgets do not consider marketing costs, a movie usually needs a 2 to 2.5 multiplier to break even. In other words, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania needs to make at least 2.5 times its production budget to start making a profit. Assuming that the latest Ant-Man film repeats Marvel’s Phase 4 budget trend, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania needs to break the $500 million mark to become profitable. That said, for a movie of that size and that means so much to the MCU’s Phase 5 future, Quantumania simply breaking even would not be considered a success regardless of it making some profit.
By the standards that the MCU’s success itself set, Ant-Man’s adventure through the Quantum Realm needs to have a solid run that not only makes the movie’s budget back but that also delivers a considerable profit. While no superhero movie released in 2022 broke the billion-dollar barrier, the MCU changed the expectations regarding solo superhero films – especially when they involve a big crossover or bring in a major Marvel villain. For example, the expectations regarding Doctor Strange 2’s box office were much higher than for Doctor Strange (2016), as the sequel featured Scarlet Witch and big Marvel cameos like Patrick Stewart’s Professor X.
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How Much Will Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania Make At The Box Office?
Ant-Man (2015) made $519 million at the box office on a $130 million budget while Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) made $622 million on a $162 million budget. The scale of those two movies, however, was smaller by MCU Phase 4 standards. By diving into the Quantum Real and the multiverse, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is placing itself in a Doctor Strange 2 scenario. In other words, it is expected that Quantumania outperforms 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp by a considerable margin. Whereas the first two Ant-Man movies were relatively self-contained stories focused on Scott and Hope, Quantumania is crucial for the MCU’s Multiverse Saga.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s villain Kang will return for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and is also expected to be a key character in Avengers: Secret Wars. Kang the Conqueror is the MCU’s next Thanos, meaning Quantumania is setting up the MCU’s future leading up to Secret Wars. In that scenario, Thor: Love and Thunder box office numbers – $760 million – seem reasonable for Quantumania. If Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania manages to deliver the MCU’s Multiverse Saga storyline kickoff that Marvel has been promising, then perhaps pushing above $800 million will be possible for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s box office.
