‘Ant Man’ gets poor reviews. Will the Marvel invincibility last?
February 24, 2023·5 min
On The Hollywood Breakdown, Kim Masters and Matt Bellany discuss early signs of cracks in Marvel's box office dominance. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opened well commercially but polled a B CinemaScore, which Bellany calls very low for Marvel. Critics scored it just 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, far below Marvel's historical average. They credit strong marketing and the introduction of the new villain Kang as drivers of the opening. Still, chatter has started about whether Marvel's veneer of invincibility can hold. Bellany frames the central question: is this a creative problem or a volume problem from flooding the market with Marvel films and Disney Plus series? He predicts the film slate will continue but wonders about Disney Plus series volume amid Disney's cost cuts. Looking back, he notes Marvel coasted on the Avengers franchise through Endgame, the second-highest-grossing film of all time. Post-Endgame, the track record is mixed: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the Black Panther sequel were hits, while Eternals underperformed. He credits fans for still showing up regardless of reviews but warns that goodwill will erode. Masters cites Thor: Love and Thunder's nearly 70% second-weekend drop despite a B-plus CinemaScore as a relevant precedent. Bellany says the Quantumania second-weekend drop will be diagnostic. The hosts look forward to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May, widely expected to be a top-three film of the year, and The Marvels, the Captain Marvel sequel with Brie Larson now pushed from summer into the Black Panther November slot. They debate whether the move is a strategic slotting or a sign of trouble. They close by asking whether Marvel now faces franchise fatigue.
