Real heroes. Not actual size. Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and The Wasp is In theaters July 6. / Marvel Entertainment
If the CGI - short for computer-generated imagery - in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania struck you as being particularly sloppy and unimpressive, there’s a reason for that.
According to Vulture, visual effects artists contributing to Marvel’s latest blockbuster were overworked and under-resourced, and part of the reason was because money was being diverted to another project, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Vulture spoke with three sources who worked on Quantumania and two of them both spoke of the gruelling conditions, and the decision to prioritise Wakanda Forever.
A visual effects technician with the pseudonym of Jim told Vulture: “In terms of priority, Wakanda Forever was definitely at the top of the list. All the money went to that. All the best resources went to that.
“It’s understandable given the context – with Chadwick [Boseman’s death] and everything and how well the first film did.
“But it did diminish the ability to carry Ant-Man all the way through.”
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 / Marvel
Jim went on to recall that late-minute mandated changes caused a lot of “tension, turmoil and weight” on everyone at the company he worked for, which had been contracted by Disney to complete the post-production work.
He went on to say: “It is noticeable that there were shortcuts.
“Certain things were used to cover up incomplete work. Certain editorial cuts were made to not show as much action or effects as there could have been – likely because there just wasn’t enough time to render everything.
“It really did feel like certain scenes were trimmed or otherwise altered to either save money, save time or cover up the inability to get it done.”
Another VFX artist, using the name Conor, confirmed Wakanda Forever took precedence over Quantumania and had been given the impression that the latter was “less of a pressing thing”.
The effects house Conor worked for was employed on both pictures at the same time.
He explained: “There were times when we were creating an actor’s entire action: Ant-Man moving across something. And you just think, ‘Why didn’t they film it the right way or how they wanted it in the first place? Why are we having to Frankenstein together an actor’s performance?’
“A quick shot that maybe takes two seconds would have to be redone 20 times to get the look that they want. There was a lot of reworking, a lot of inefficiency.”
Quantumania was released last week as part of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “phase five” and introduced the main villain of this tranche of MCU projects, Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors.
Kathryn Newton as Cassandra "Cassie" Lang and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Photo / Marvel
The movie stars Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and features a storyline in which the heroes are sucked into the Quantum Realm, a micro-micro-microscopic universe beneath ours.
The film has a rare (for Marvel) negative rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 48 per cent, with critics calling out the movie for its CGI-laden action sequences.
Despite the negative reviews, the movie has grossed US$241 million in its first weekend. In Australia, it has earnt A$7.67 million in the week to Wednesday.
Quantumania is the 31st MCU movie released since Iron Man came out in 2008. Earlier this month, Disney boss Bob Iger and Marvel head Kevin Feige both flagged Marvel would slow down its rate of releases across cinema and streaming.
In phase four, Marvel released 17 projects across two years compared to phase three when it put out 11 projects across four years.
Feige said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly: “We want Marvel Studios and MCU projects to really stand out and stand above. So, people will see that as we get further into phases five and six.
“The pace at which we’re putting out Disney+ shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine.”
While Feige only referred to the MCU’s streaming shows, a few days after the interview, it was confirmed upcoming movie The Marvels has been delayed from July to November. The Marvel movie that had originally been slated for November, Blade, will now be pushed back to September 2024.
The next MCU cinema release will be Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 in May.
