Paul Rudd's still king of the (ant) hill in movies -- beating out a coked-out CGI bear ... but the weekend win isn't quite what it seems, considering a huge drop-off his flick endured.
We're talking about "Ant-Man: Quantumania" -- which came out last week with windfall box office numbers ($106 million) and which once again secured the top spot these past 3 days with another $32.2 million in domestic ticket sales against newcomer, "Cocaine Bear."
The goofy horror-comedy, directed by Elizabeth Banks, came in 2nd behind PR and co. ... raking in $23.1 mil domestically and $28.4 mil globally -- which is pretty good considering it only cost about $35M to make it. So, it's sure to make its money back and then some.
Not exactly the hit that "M3GAN" was for Universal -- but the studio's killing it lately with original ideas and relatively low investment. 'Ant-Man,' however, took a historical plunge.
Going from $106M to $32M in just one weekend is actually the biggest dip a Marvel movie has fallen into ... like, ever. As Variety noted, that's about 69%, more or less ... beating out the previous lowest record-holder in "Black Widow," which came in at a 67% drop-off in '21.
So, what are we to make of all this??? Well, from the outside looking in ... it seems Marvel might not quite be the bankable movie draw it was once (especially post-'Avengers'), and unique concepts in Hollywood can actually be winners with audiences. Take note, execs!