Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Was Profitable

It’s no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has hit what might be described as a rough patch in recent years. The MCU is still arguably the biggest thing going at the box office these days, with “Deadpool & Wolverine” making more than $1.3 billion this year. That said, films like “Black Widow,” “Eternals,” and especially “The Marvels” have struggled to break through with audiences in a meaningful way. The same could be said for last year’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which shot out of the gate hot but then came crashing down to finish its global run with $476 million worldwide. Against a $200 million budget, it was considered a big disappointment, if not an outright flop. Yet, it’s a flop that still turned a profit, albeit a very tiny one.

In a recent report from Forbes, it’s revealed that director Peyton Reed’s “Quantumania” managed to squeak out at least a little profit despite being the lowest-grossing entry in the “Ant-Man” franchise, in addition to being the most expensive to produce. We’ll get more into the breakdown of these numbers in a moment but, per the report, “Quantumania” earned a profit of $88,236 after expenses were factored in. It’s not entirely clear what all this includes but, for a movie with a reported $200 million production budget (before marketing), that’s a pretty small number. Be that as it may, for a movie that undoubtedly lost money during its theatrical run, it shows that the box office isn’t everything, particularly for a big Marvel blockbuster.

Typically, studios like to keep budgets and expenses as secret as they can. However, because it wanted to take the U.K. up on its attractive tax credits, which can be as high as 25.5% of the money spent in the country, Disney is required to report on the full costs of a production. In the case of “Quantumania,” those came to a staggering $388.4 million. After the $58.2 million in tax credits kicked in, that number dropped to $330.1 million.

First and foremost, that number is much, much higher than the widely reported $200 million budget. Second, despite the absurd cost of producing a film that suffered the worst-ever second weekend drop for a Marvel film at the box office, “Quantumania” somehow managed to get out of the red after all was said and done. It’s a window into the intentionally tricky business of studio accounting, and one we can learn a lot from.

It’s probably not important to the average fan to understand the ins and outs of the complicated tax credit system, or studio accounting in general. What we can say is that the old rule of thumb box office math works pretty well in this case. Studios see roughly half of the money from ticket sales, which would be around $238 million in this case. That would have left Marvel/Disney with $92 million to make up elsewhere, based on the reported costs. When Blu-ray, merchandise, streaming, etc. is factored in, it’s not super hard to see how a small profit could be made. That’s what’s important here.

It matters because this is why the MCU continues to soldier on. “Quantumania” still has profit to make in the coming years as it will sell more Blu-rays, play more on cable, and continue to generate revenue for years to come. Even in relative failure, these movies make money. Now, last year’s “The Marvels” barely cracking $200 million worldwide? That’s probably never going to get out of the red. But that’s truly the one exception in MCU history. Would it still help if Marvel and Disney could address the inflated budget issue I’ve been yelling about for years? Yes, but even with inflated budgets, profit can be found.

The bigger thing to take into account here is that it’s probably still fair to label this movie as a flop, at least relative to expectations. This was supposed to be a pivotal moment in Marvel’s Multiverse Saga. Instead, it’s a movie that was largely rejected by critics and barely made any money. $88,000 is a rounding error for a company as big as Disney. Studios don’t produce $200 million movies to make such small amounts of money. The idea is to reap a big profit like “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” at least on the extreme end of things. This was not what anyone involved had in mind and it’s an awful lot of resources to put behind something that barely manages not to lose money. That’s still the issue.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is currently streaming on Disney+, or you can grab the movie on Blu-ray/DVD via Amazon.