Ant-Man is Marvel Studios’ smallest franchise. While most of their films cost around $200 to $240 million to produce, these films and their “smaller” budgets have less weight to carry. Building on the success of another Avengers film, all eyes are on Ant-Man & the Wasp and how much it could make with the Avengers buzz trailing behind it. After such a massive hit like Infinity War, early predictions have catapulted Ant-Man and the Wasp towards a $100+ million opening but only if it really outperforms. It opened on Friday with $33.8 million and Thursday preview earnings of $11.5 million pointed to at least an $85 million opening. Well, the numbers are finally in. Ant-Man & the Wasp has officially made $161 million worldwide and $76 million domestically, short of the initial prediction.

Is this a failure or a sign of superhero fatigue? Far from it. The film had a budget of $160 million (only $30 million more than the previous film) meaning it has made enough money to make up for it. Moreover, it’s opening improved that of the first Ant-Man by 34% which is always a good sign when a sequel is released. These numbers put it on par with the Thor franchise, as these films had higher budgets and kept rising by around 30% with the release of Thor: The Dark World.

The true test comes next weekend, as these smaller films end up drawing in an audience over time rather than in its opening weekend. If we see a small drop between 40% to 50%, it could make up for the smaller opening weekend over time. But if things go really well, we could see this sequel hit $600 million, making a third movie primed for an announcement.

What do you think? How much do you think it will make in its entire run?

Source: Box Office Mojo, Forbes, Deadline, Twitter

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