'Ant-Man and the Wasp' Projected for Huge Opening Weekend in China

Ant-Man and the Wasp is heading for a very successful opening weekend in China.

According to Gavin Feng, Ant-Man and the Wasp is set for a $65 million haul in its first three days at the box office in China.

Feng notes that at this point Ant-Man and the Wasp is outpacing Spider-Man: Homecoming in advance ticket sales, and Spider-Man: Homecoming opened in China to $71.4 million in 2017. But Chinese audiences in 2018 have shown to be more likely to buy tickets in advance and less likely to buy them in person at the box office, meaning Ant-Man and the Wasp is likely to bring in less money than Homecoming in opening night sales.

For comparison, Avengers: Infinity War opened in China earlier this year to $200.88 million and 32 percent of that was made in pre-sales. Black Panther opened to $66.3 million in the market with 19 percent of that total coming from pre-sales.

In 2017, 14 percent of Spider-Man: Homecoming’s $71.45 million came from pre-sales, Thor: Ragnarok opened to $54.72 million with 12 percent pre-sales, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opened to $49.67 million with 15 percent in pre-sales.

Ant-Man and the Wasp has already surpassed the domestic box office total of the original Ant-Man, currently having earned $208.6 million to the original's $180.2 million.

The sequel has been trailing the original internationally. Ant-Man earned $339.1 million from international markets. Ant-Man and the Wasp has so far earned $257.5 million international. Opening in China should help Ant-Man and the Wasp gain some ground there.

Combined, Ant-Man earned $519.3 million worldwide during its box office run. Ant-Man and the Wasp’s worldwide box office total currently sits at $466.1 million.

Ant-Man and the Wasp opened on 4,206 screens and earned $76 million in its first weekend, outdoing the original Ant-Man's opening weekend in 2015 by almost $20 million.

Ant-Man and the Wasp has received a strong, positive reception, earning an A- CinemaScore and strong reviews, including a positive review from ComicBook.com:

"In a world where bigger is often thought to mean better, especially in terms of sequels, Ant-Man and The Wasp comes along to prove it is not the case. A sequel to 2015's Ant-Man, which was a heist flick burdened with introducing a hero many audiences were unfamiliar with, the latest entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a self-contained joy ride written to include great humor and surprising twists."

Be sure to check out our lists of the 10 best moments from Ant-Man and the Wasp, and our list of all the spinoff Marvel movies it may have set up.

What did you think of Ant-Man and the Wasp? Let us know in the comments!

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