“Ant-Man: Quantumania” may be down at the box office and in critical standing, but star Jonathan Majors isn’t letting its poor reception get him down.
Since debuting on Feb. 17, the Marvel film has landed a 48% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, just one point above record-low holder “Eternals.” It opened Feb. 17 to $106 million before suffering the worst second-weekend drop in the franchise’s history.
“It doesn’t change how I see myself, period. It’s all data,” the actor said during an appearance on IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast. “I’m a performance within a story. One thing I will say to my team as we’re leaving a premiere if they’re reading reviews, I’ll say, ‘How’s the movie doing?’ I try to clean my plate and take care of my part. The response is: ‘You’re straight. You’re good. They like you.’ And they tell me about the movie. Sometimes the movie is also on that level, and sometimes [it’s not].”
Majors, who plays supervillain Kang in the film, had an equally mild-mannered view of the critics.
“It’s just people,” he said. “They have an opinion. You always have an opinion. I’m no fool. I know these are people writing it. These aren’t my Yale professors or my drama teachers. These are people who have kids and they have a perspective, they have a religious upbringing or a lack thereof. They live in this town, or they want to be seen in this way or don’t want to be seen in this way.”
Better box office days are ahead for the star, whose new film “Creed III” premieres in theaters today. The sports drama is already on track for a $35 to $40 million opening with $5.45 in Thursday preview showings.
Majors also received critical acclaim for his leading role in Sundance film “Magazine Dreams.” Searchlight acquired the bodybuilding drama on Feb. 14.
