Ant-Man 3 Box Office Tracking Has Quantumania With Biggest Opening of Franchise

Now that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is just under a month away, box office trackers are beginning to look at the potential box office haul of the first tentpole of 2023. According to some of the earliest tracking efforts, the opening weekend of the threequel is on-pace to becoming the biggest of the franchise. The latest report comes from the team at Box Office Pro, which suggests the Peyton Reed picture could make upwards of $131 million over the course of its first weekend in theaters.

Looking at the other films in the franchise, that haul is substantially larger than the others. Ant-Man kicked things off in 2015 with a $57.2M opening weekend while Ant-Man and the Wasp debuted with a sizable $75.7M opening. "Marketing and trailer releases have permeated media in recent weeks, raising awareness and specifically igniting conversation around the feature film introduction of Kang, played by Jonathan Majors, increasingly known to represent the franchise's next arc-based villain," BOP's Shawn Robbins writes.

What is Quantumania setting up?

Jonathan Majors' Kang is already being set up as the largest MCU villain since Thanos (Josh Brolin) killed half of all life across the universe during Avengers: Infinity War. According to longtime Marvel producer Stephen Broussard, the storyline of Quantumania is going to set up a major shift within the franchise moving forward.

"We talk about movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in which you saw the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it felt like the entirety of the MCU turned on that," Broussard shared in a press release alongside the film's latest trailer. "Captain America: Civil War was another film where you saw heroes divided and in camps and battle lines being drawn-it really felt like the future of the MCU was going to be defined by the action of that film. We really liked the idea of making this Ant-Man film as important and integral to the MCU going forward."

Here's the description for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which enters theaters February 17th.

"In the film, which officially kicks off phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope's parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as Kang."

How much do you think Quantumania will make in its box office run? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!