Box office: Ant-Man 3 in freefall, Avatar 2 breaks a new record

Is the giant Marvel tottering? In any case, this is what the results of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania at the box office. The film recorded a 69% drop in admissions in its second weekend of US release, setting a sad record for the MCU. On his side, Avatar: The Way of the Water has just set a new record in Europe. We take stock.

Ant Man 3MCU’s Biggest Decline

With $32.2 million raised in its second weekend in US theaters, down 69.7% from last week, Ant Man 3 marks the worst decline in history for a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s worse than Black Widow (-67.8%) and recent Thor: Love and Thunder (-67.7%) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (-63.3%). It is also a steeper drop than Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (-69.1%).

The new ant-man adventure currently totals $167.3 million in the United States and $363.6 million worldwide. To compare, Ant Man (2015) ended its career at 519.3 million worldwide, whileAnt-Man and the Wasp (2018) had done better, with 622.6 million.

Certainly, Ant Man is arguably Marvel’s weakest franchise, and the film’s very relative quality didn’t help. But while a 60-65% drop is typical for the superhero genre, with the majority of fans rushing to theaters upon release, a nearly 70% loss in viewership remains impressive, and perhaps reveals the limits of an MCU model that turns 15 in 2023.

Apart from the fans, the general public also seems to be marking time with Marvel productions, perhaps cooled by the injunction to see all the films and series to follow the thread of the story. The question of the number of Marvel contents also arises: can we still create the event and the surprise with three films and ten series per year? Marvel will survive this bad patch (all things considered), especially with the popular Guardians of the Galaxy – volume 3 coming soon (May 3). But Ant Man 3 may have just confirmed to the industry that he is no longer the unsinkable titan he once was.

Avatar 2a record in Europe

It may have been released last year, Avatar: The Way of the Water slowly continues to break records. After 11 weeks of exploitation, James Cameron’s film garners 665.3 million dollars in the United States, and 2.267 billion dollars in cumulative in the world. The blockbuster has thus become the biggest hit of all time in Europe, thanks to the strong markets of France (150.3 million), Germany (141 million) and Great Britain (92.3 million), which are among the most lucrative for the film.