Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniainfo leakeda month before its theatrical release, prompting Marvel to take action against one or more complicit individuals. The company has reached out to two platforms regarding the identity of the individuals.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniais the third installment in the Paul Rudd-ledAnt-Manfranchise of MCU movies. The film follows the titular characters and their loved ones on an adventure through the Quantum Realm, where they face new and exciting dangers and confront the villainous and newly restored Kang the Conqueror.Ant-Man 3kicked off the MCU’s Phase Fiveand was expected to set a franchise-best box office opening and set the tone for the upcoming projects under the Phase Five banner.
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Despite this promising release slot and the projections of success, the film was a mixed bag, rapidly falling from its successful debut to a steep 69.83% drop in box office earnings, inadvertentlygivingAnt-Man 3a negative box office record. As covered byVariety, Marvel seems to have started taking action against one possible contributor to the film’s lackluster performance: a leaked 63-page transcript of dialogue fromAnt-Man 3that was posted to the internet a month before the film’s theatrical debut on Reddit, a popular online forum. Marvel has filed for a court to compel Reddit to cooperate with an investigation into the leaker’s identity, who went by the username MSSmods and posted the leaks to ther/MarvelStudiosSpoilerssubreddit.
The US. DMCA request from Marvel, filed in a California court, requests that Reddit gives the company any pertinent identifying information regarding the user MSSmods and anyone else involved in posting, editing, or maintaining the content between January 15th and February 15th. When reached for comment, a representative for Reddit insisted that the company “…is committed to protecting our users’ privacy. We have rigorous processes in place to assess legal requests and object when appropriate” but refused to explicitly confirm or deny the company’s cooperation in the case at this time. Reddit is no stranger to controversy on the site leading to court action, with the last big Reddit drama story leading toone Redditor being sued for the Gamestop stock actionorganized on the site.
With seriousdiscussions aboutAnt-Man 4underway, shifting the blame for the third film’s lackluster performance away from the complaints several reviews made and onto the leaks diluting fan interest instead might be worth more to Marvel than the compensation they might receive from taking legal action if any. The deterrent factor might also be a motivation, as a similar leak for a bigger stakes project like the upcomingAvengersfilm could prove far more demonstrably damaging to the company and the film’s box office.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniahas seemingly been more trouble than it’s worth.Ant-Man 3garnered all-time low review scoresfor an MCU project and failed to match or exceed its franchise predecessor financially. It’s not clear how much damage the leaks did toAnt-Man 3’s box office success, nor if the action being taken by Marvel will amount to any sizable compensation, with both points likely destined to be left up to the courts to decide.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniais available in theatres.
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