The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a behemoth force in the entertainment industry, one that extends to both TV and movie projects. And while the studio is showing no signs of slowing down, the MCU has had some box office disappointments over the last few years. Now we know how Marvel Studio is reportedly reacting to Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and more underperforming.
The shared universe has been in a unique place since Avengers: Endgame, with Phase Four and Five doing a ton of set up and introductions. But there have been some major missteps, with Ant-Man 3 and Eternals underperforming the box office. Author Joanna Robinson recently wrote a book about the inner workings of the studio, titled MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios. While appearing on the podcast The Watch to promote the project, and revealed how the powers that be have reacted to recent box office disappointments. In her words:
[Marvel Studios] is aware of what's happening to their brand. My understanding, having talked to some people, is that Quantumania really shook them, and I'm sure Secret Invasion shook them further, but Quantumania really shook them because they felt like they had something good. Because they all internally thought, 'Everyone's gonna love this.'
Sounds about right. The first two Ant-Man movies were well received, despite the franchise being relatively disconnected to the greater shared universe. Quantumania was a game changer in this way, bringing Jonathan Majors’ Kang to play. But despite all this, it failed to perform as well as other MCU movies.
Ant-Man 3 was a box office disappointment, and some moviegoers have been concerned about what that means for the greater shared universe. And it sounds like the studio has also taken note, and was shocked when the Paul Rudd-led threequel failed to perform. Later in that same podcast appearance, Robinson spoke more about the temperature from within the studio, saying:
And then they put it out and people didn't. And then they were like, 'Oh no, our internal barometer is not attuned to what people want anymore.' … With Quantumania they were like, 'We put out a banger.' And then that's not how a lot of people felt.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania got some criticism about its visual effects, among other issues. Although it set up the shared universe’s big villain with Jonathan Majors’ Kang, that character’s fate seems unclear given Majors’ legal troubles. And while moviegoers who have been watching the Marvel movies in order are still seeing each new movie, they’re seemingly not re-watching multiple times in theaters. We’ll just have to wait and see if the shared universe ends up doing better in theaters.
The next upcoming Marvel movie hitting theaters is Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels on November 10th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
