Ant-Man opens big at the box office with $104M for ‘Quantumania’

Phase five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe may have gotten off to a rocky start, but Ant-Man is more significant than ever at the box office.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” opened with $104 million in domestic ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, easily surpassing the box-office debuts of the previous two Ant-Man films. The Walt Disney Co.’s “Quantumania” added another $121.3 million overseas to give the pint-sized hero a $225 million global launch.

It’s easily the largest opening of the year so far. And “Quantumania” did so despite an atypically poor reception for the 31st MCU film. “Quantumania,” starring Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp, and Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, sits at 48% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the only MCU film to rank as rotten beside “Eternals” (47%).

Audiences weren’t thrilled with “Quantumania,” giving it a “B” CinemaScore. “Eternals” is the only other MCU film to receive a CinemaScore that low.

Those scores will pose the biggest concern for Marvel as it continues to unroll phase five of the MCU, following mixed reviews for the post “Avengers: Endgame” phase four of the comic-book franchise. Next is “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” in May.