Disney Can't Make a Multiplex Mountain Out of an Ant Hill
Let's start with the good news for Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) shareholders as well as fans of checking out superhero flicks at the local movie theater. After a blowout opening weekend, Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was the top draw for the second week in a row. Disney films have now been responsible for the top draw at domestic multiplexes for 14 of the last 16 weekends. Disney is a juggernaut with its theatrical releases.
The bad news? The latest installment in the Ant-Man franchise experienced a nearly 70% decline in stateside ticket sales compared to its robust opening during the the Presidents Day holiday weekend. The film that topped $100 million in box office receipts a week earlier took in just an estimated $32.2 in admissions this time around.
Heroes can turn into antiheroes pretty quickly in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania premiere turned heads earlier this month, grossing more than either of the franchise's two previous installments. Exhibitors cheered the breakthrough numbers, perhaps starting to believe that reports of the death of the North American multiplex industry had been greatly exaggerated.
Source Fool.com
