Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: ant man and the wasp, film, marvel

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Peyton Reed Comments on Having to Follow Avengers: Infinity War

Published Wed, 11 Jul 2018 06:40:34 -0500

Last updated Wed, 11 Jul 2018 09:15:19 -0500

Ever since the first screenings of Ant-Man and The Wasp, most people have been saying how it feels like such a breath of fresh air after everything that has happened in Avengers: Infinity War. However, following such a big movie would be intimidating for any director, and Tech Crunch asked director Peyton Reed how he felt about following a movie with universe ending stakes and a huge cast to the smaller scope and cast of Ant-Man and The Wasp.

"That really is part of the Ant-Man movies — the stakes are really high … they're just personal stakes," Reed said. "You know it's not a gigantic, genocidal villain like Infinity War. On that level, we don't want to top Thanos." Instead, Reed said these films have "very different storytelling ambitions," and in fact his hope is that they have "the most personal tone" of the Marvel films.

Reed is a fan himself, and when it comes to approaching a new movie he thought about what he would want to see from an Ant-Man sequel and went from there.

Asked how he approaches the audience when you're this deep into a mega-franchise, Reed said, "I really just use myself the moviegoer, as a litmus test in terms of what they have and haven't seen. [At] Marvel, no one wants to repeat themselves, no one wants to bore an audience."

In the first movie it was sort of a running joke that Hope was so much more capable than Scott. It sort of felt like a weird joke to make, since Disney didn't have any female heroes in title roles — so it was important they follow through with the sequel. Reed reveals that it was always his intent to do things this way.

"It also felt like the organic way to forward these characters from the first movie," he said. "We knew Hope van Dyne was very capable, but was being held back from that by her issues with her father. Now that the issues between them are resolved, we can create a really fully-formed hero."

Ant-Man and The Wasp had a domestic debut of $76 million, which puts it about $20 million ahead of the first movie. It's also the 20th consecutive Marvel movie to open at number one. There hasn't been any word whether or not there will be a third entry in this series, but Reed seems comfortable in this little "post-Avengers niche" the Ant-Man movies have found themselves in. We'll have to see what happens when they announce the next team-up movie after Avengers 4.

Summary: As Scott Lang balances being both a Super Hero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.

Ant-Man and The Wasp, directed by Peyton Reed, stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Hannah John-Kamen, Michael Douglas, and Michael Peña. It's out now.

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