People look at a display of Avengers villains at the Marvel Studios exhibit during the D23 expo fan convention at the Convention Center in Anaheim, California, on July 16, 2017. Photo: AFP

Promotional material of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Photo: Snapshot of Sina Weibo

Chinese film critics say Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may disappoint at the Chinese mainland box office due to recent poor reviews. 

The film is scheduled to hit the Chinese mainland on Friday, the same day the sequel touches down in the US. This is the first Marvel film released simultaneously in the Chinese mainland and North America in three and a half years. 

Chinese film critics told the Global Times that as the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)'s Phase 5, Marvel Studios has great expectations for the film and that its performance in the Chinese mainland will be an important indicator of whether superhero films can still strike a chord with Chinese audiences. However, due to the film's current poor critic reviews, it might not be able to make a splash in Chinese theaters. According to film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania only has a 53 percent freshness rating, making it the second worst-reviewed MCU film.

Many netizens expressed their low willingness to watch the film after seeing the low rating. "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is more of a Marvel fan based movie. If they want to attract a larger audience, it really depends on word-of-mouth, but the current score is too low," Jiang Yong, a film critic based in East China's Jiangsu Province, told the Global Times on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the film held its Chinese premiere in Shanghai. Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, said in a video that this movie will be the supervillain Kang the Conqueror's first debut in cinema.

According to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, the film has grossed 11.58 million yuan ($1.68 million) in presales, and the screen share in the mainland for the premiere date is expected to reach 33 percent.

Data shows that the past two Ant-Man movies - Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp - earned 670 million yuan and 830 million yuan respectively in the Chinese mainland, with an 83 percent and 87 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, while the third sequel is significantly lower than them. 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever currently hasn't broken the 100 million yuan mark since its mainland premiere on February 7. 

Ambrosia Chan, a manager at Morning Light Film Wuxi, told the Global Times on Thursday that the box office of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will not be very high. 

"China's main domestic ticketing platform predicts the box office might range from 400 to 600 million yuan, but I think this prediction is too ideal. The box office legend created by Avengers: Endgame has passed," he said.

The author is an editor of the Global Times. life@globaltimes.com.cn