‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ Stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly Are “Pissed Off” Over Later UK Release Date

Ant-Man and the Wasp stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are “pissed off” the Marvel Studios blockbuster won’t reach the UK until August 3 — nearly a month after the Ant-Man sequel reaches US theaters.

“They always do that,” Lilly told Empire magazine of the weeks-later release. “Then what happens is people just pirate the movie and they see it in the worst way possible, like some sh-tty version online, instead of going to a theater.”

“They go in the end,” she told the British mag, “but I don’t like that staggering. I’m really going to get to the bottom of this for you. I’m as pissed off about it as you are.”

“I don’t understand,” Rudd added. “Let me see if we can maybe get the World Cup moved.”

Late last month, overseas Marvel fans launched a petition aimed at moving up Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s UK release date to a date closer in step with the rest of the world.

The World Cup is said to be blamed, the major international sports event culminating in its live final July 15.

“The worry for film distributors is that audiences will be caught up in the tournament,” Charles Gant, film journalist and box office expert for Guardian and Screen International, explained to Yahoo.

“So it’s easier to play safe and not date your film at this time, especially during the group stage, when all the qualifying nations are competing.”

The UK’s release date is the third-latest opening for the movie, just ahead of Italy’s August 14 opening and Japan’s, where the blockbuster doesn’t open until a much later August 31.

Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s August 3 bow in UK theaters is also meant to distance itself from Disney’s other major summer release, Pixar’s mega-hit Incredibles 2, which just opened in the US but doesn’t reach overseas theaters until July 13 — a date meant to target and coincidence with school holidays.

Shifting the Rudd and Lilly-starrer forward into a date aligning it with its US counterpart would mean Disney cannibalizes its own box office in the UK, as there would be just one week separating new releases Ant-Man and Incredibles.

As it stands now, Incredibles 2 will have three weeks in UK release before Ant-Man and Wasp swoop in and collect a likely sizable box office.

Ant-Man and the Wasp opens domestically July 6 before debuting in the UK August 3.