‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Writer Jeff Loveness Rejects Negative Reaction To Film: ‘I’m Right! MODOK Is Great!’
Jacob Smith
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The jury is in and ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘ is not only a bust with critics but a bust with audiences as well.
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.
The latest episode of the longest running cinematic opera in history has now been out nearly two weeks and the reaction to the film has been mild at best.
Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania currently enjoys the second lowest Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer score among any MCU film with 48%.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Rotten Tomatoes score
The box office hasn’t been any better for the film. In it’s second week, Quantumania dropped 70% at the box office marking the biggest second weekend drop in MCU history. The film is currently being outpaced by last year’s worst performing MCU film Thor: Love & Thunder by over $66 million domestically. The film is currently pacing to have a final box office gross less than $600 million worldwide.
Despite opening stronger than 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, the film is on pace to finish with a lower box office than it’s predecessor thanks in large part to the negative word of mouth associated with the film.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania box office numbers compared to Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp via The-Numbers
With such an under performing film, one can’t help but to point the finger at the film’s screenwriting as the source of the movie’s problems.
Jeff Loveness, who has never written a feature film previously, was tasked with leading the MCU into Phase 5 after only writing episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live and Rick & Morty. Loveness in an interview with the far left media outlet The Daily Beast talked about the film’s negative reception by stating he is proud of the film’s writing and disagrees with the negative backlash the movie has received.
(L-R): Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Loveness said, “To be honest, those reviews took me by surprise. I was in a pretty low spot… Those were not good reviews, and I was like, ‘What the …?
He continued, “I’m really proud of what I wrote for Jonathan [Majors, who plays the villain Kang the Conqueror] and Michelle Pfeiffer [scientist Janet Pym]. I thought that was good stuff, you know? And so I was just despondent, and I was really sad about it.”
Despite the results of his cinematic flop, Loveness said that he got in better spirits after he attended a public screening of the film and listened as audience members laughed at many of the jokes he added to the script.
He explained, “I went to [a showing]. And an audience was laughing, and it was one of those Sullivan’s Travels, ‘watching the movie with the prisoners’ moments.”
“I’m like, ‘Goddamn! No, the reviews are wrong! I’m right! MODOK is great!'” Loveness said.
“I’m pretty happy with it overall, and I think I learned how to take a punch this week,” he concluded. “And now that I learned that it’s not too bad, I can just get on with making things.”
Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
Loveness confirmed last week that he is sticking with Marvel Studios and that he is currently developing the script for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty which is slated to come out in 2025 pending reshoots and delays, which Marvel seems to be notorious for now.
Loveness recently revealed that Marvel Studios doesn’t have a plan for that film as they are just winging it, “We are in the process of figuring that out. I am so far behind on my Avengers script, but I’ll tell you when we’ve got it figured out.”
He added, “We’ve got a plan and we’ve got a story, but the goal right now, without giving too much away, is to show the true versatility and passion that Jonathan Majors has.”
(L-R): Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/Wasp and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
Loveness also confirmed that the only plan for Phase 5 of the MCU is to push Jonathan Majors to super stardom in his role of Kang the Conqueror.
“I truly feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world because I get to write for the most exciting young actor that I’ve seen in a long, long time. And so the short answer is that I can’t say anything, but the big answer is that Kang is a legion,” he explained.
(L-R): Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
What are your thoughts on the future of the MCU under the guidance of Jeff Loveness?
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