Though it’s a far cry from the eye-watering debuts of Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, Peyton Reed’s diminutive sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, continues to post solid numbers in anticipation of its U.S. launch this Friday, June 6th.
Case in point: Variety’s latest box office forecast predicts a strong $80M opening across 4,100 theaters in North America, placing Ant-Man and the Wasp in the same ballpark as Thor: The Dark World and Doctor Strange on the all-time MCU charts. For the record, Peyton Reed’s first Ant-Man movie scored a respectable $57M back in 2015, so this is yet more proof that the imminent sequel is set to leapfrog its forebear in every which way – scale, scope, opening weekend numbers, etc.
A $75M-$80M haul will also be enough to see off competition from The First Purge, which is expected to light up U.S. theaters tomorrow, July 4th. Blumhouse’s horror prequel is said to be targeting $25M across the five-day period.
The fact that this is the MCU’s 20th installment also speaks to the formidable staying power of Marvel’s juggernaut, and a positive Rotten Tomatoes score, coupled with the leftover hype from Infinity War, can only work in Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s favor.
It’s also officially the 20th MCU movie to be rated ‘fresh’ by the online movie aggregator (our review), holding an 84 percent score after 92 reviews. The first film came in a little lower, scoring 82 percent on the RT meter. And money-wise, a strong $75M-$80M debut ought to ensure that Ant-Man and the Wasp gets off to a flyer, though the Marvel sequel still has a long way to go if it’s to top the total worldwide cume of its predecessor ($519M).