After a hiatus of more than three years, Marvel's superheroes have made a return to the Chinese mainland with the release of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.

Since its release on Friday in over 10,000 cinemas across various formats, including IMAX, the movie has grossed about 135 million yuan ($19.7 million), making it the new box-office champion in China, surpassing the previous titleholder, the Chinese sci-fi epic The Wandering Earth.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, also known as Ant-Man 3, is the first movie to launch Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase Five, which introduces new characters and storylines. The movie tells the story of Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, who once again teams up with Hope Van Dyne, aka The Wasp, as well as Dyne's parents, to face a new challenge. This time, their enemy is a powerful villain who can manipulate time.

The IMAX program specially tailored certain scenes, allowing audiences to see 26 percent more footage than what is shown on a regular screen. This gives die-hard fans a chance to feast their eyes on the quantum realm, a microscopic dimension that can be accessed by shrinking down to subatomic levels.

Last week, the movie had its premiere at the Walt Disney Grand Theatre in the Shanghai Disney Resort. It was attended by a number of die-hard fans and industry insiders who got a sneak peek at the highly anticipated film.