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Ant-Man 3's writer Jeff Loveness has finally reacted to the mixed-to-negative reception towards the film.
Ever since its release, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has been subjected to a negative and harsh response from critics, who slammed the film's weak screenplay, pacing, visual effects, and also the designs of some characters such as MODOK.
The film has now become the second-worst-rated MCU film after Eternals, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 47%. Cinemascore has also graded the film "B," tying it with Eternals. Ant-Man 3 very recently suffered a box office drop by 69% percent from its initial $105 million debut. On iMDb, the film has a mediocre rating of 6.5/10.
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In a recent conversation with The Daily Beast, Jeff Loveness, the screenplay writer for Ant-Man 3 expressed surprise and shock at the film's poor ratings and reviews:
"To be honest, those reviews took me by surprise. I was in a pretty low spot… Those were not good reviews, and I was like, ’What the …?’"
Ant-Man 3 writer reveals more about his work on the film
During his interview with The Daily Beast, Jeff Loveness opened up about his work on Ant-Man 3 and defended it by mentioning how he was proud of what he had written for Jonathan Majors' Kang and Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet van Dyne. He said:
"I’m really proud of what I wrote for Jonathan [Majors, who plays the villain Kang the Conqueror] and Michelle Pfeiffer [scientist Janet Pym]. I thought that was good stuff, you know? And so I was just despondent, and I was really sad about it."
He added how despite receiving bad reviews from critics, the audience at a screening he had attended had praised his work. Loveness also noted how they laughed at the jokes throughout the duration of the film:
"I went to [a showing] of the movie after the reviews were in and the movie was out, and an audience was laughing, and it was one of those Sullivan’s Travels, ‘watching the movie with the prisoners’ moments."
Loveness further added to his statements by saying how seeing the response from the screening he had attended made him believe that Ant-Man 3 accomplished exactly what he wanted:
"I think we live in this era where we’re trying to label things so that we can all group ourselves into thoughts on Twitter together. I think we all need to kind of take a step back from this collective fandom that we have and just try to enjoy stuff for ourselves."
He then claimed that the critical reviews were incorrect and he was happy with the film. In particular, he talked about how MODOK's portrayal was great.
"I’m like, ‘God***n! No, [the reviews] are wrong! I’m right! MODOK is great! I’m pretty happy with it overall, and I think I learned how to take a punch this week. And now that I learned that it’s not too bad, I can just get on with making things."
Loveness concluded his statements by also defending the ending of Ant-Man 3, claiming that it was appropriate, as he did not want it to be a repeat of the ending for Ant-Man and the Wasp:
"I kind of love the ending that we landed on. I hear what people are saying, but I feel if you just strand Ant-Man in the Quantum Realm again, that is exactly what happened at the end of the second movie, and the way out of it is exactly what happens in ‘Endgame’."
It remains to be seen whether or not Loveness' work with Ant-Man 3 will affect his writing gig for 2025's Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Fans can only hope that the Rick and Morty writer delivers a great film and redeems himself from the mixed reception towards Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Ant-Man 3 is currently playing exclusively in theaters. Expect the film to drop on Disney+ following a 45-day theatrical release window. The film stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, Bill Murray, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Michael Douglas.
Have you seen Ant-Man 3 yet? What are your thoughts on the film and on Loveness' writing? Let us know in the comments down below.
