Review: ‘Fantastic Four' Super-Powers To $230 Million Opening Weekend
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal, and Joseph Quinn star in "Fantastic Four."
Fantastic Four By The Numbers
With an A- Cinemascore from audiences and an 88% 'Certified Fresh' score from critics via Rotten Tomatoes, Fantastic Four: First Steps has all the signs of a winning MCU summer tentpole.
Stateside, Fantastic Four is on course for $125 million and perhaps higher, if the positive word of mouth and high "recommend" scores from audiences drives up attendance. Like Superman, this MCU franchise's first flight will benefit tremendously from family business if that A- Cinemascore is any indication (and it is, of course).
International markets are turning out bigger for Fantastic Four than they did for Superman, with that Marvel brand flexing it's box office super-power to lift Fantastic Four to $110 million or more.
All told, Fantastic Four: First Steps is eyeing a roughly $230 million worldwide debut. That's enough to mostly guarantee a final cume north of $500 million, with potential toward as much as $720 million. It all depends on whether second-weekend holds signal a likely higher final multiplier of perhaps 3x, or a low-end $550 million total. Superman for comparison had a good sophomore outing and only modest drops, which bodes well for audiences' appetite for superhero cinema.
A 2.6x final multiplier is more likely from what I'm seeing this weekend, which would leave Fantastic Four with a global grand total past $600 million, probably around $610-620 million.
That assumes these opening weekend numbers come in where expected. With chances of overperformance similar to Superman's ability to defy each revised estimate domestically during its own freshman weekend, Fantastic Four: First Steps might wind up with better holds from Friday through Sunday as those great word-of-mouth and 'recommend' scores do their magic to bring in more families.
Here's the truth: like Superman, there's a lot of leeway for how things can swing for Fantastic Four. It's not impossible that the overseas rollout sees a surge as positive buzz spreads. This is particularly important for premium theaters such as IMAX, Dolby Cinema, ScreenX, 4DX, and others, which are not only rising in audience preference domestically but also drive a large portion of international business.
Indeed, premium screens have played a significant role in Jurassic World: Rebirth's giant-sized opening and excellent holds despite 'meh' audience word of mouth and mixed critical reviews.
Likewise, 3D is an important part of foreign theatrical revenue, despite the (false) impression it was a fad that died off, and premium theaters are where the 3D up-sale is most important. With inflation still hurting a lot of average people's pocketbooks and so much other entertainment climbing in price, movie theaters still represent a relatively cheaper alternative for a family night out or date nights.
Which makes those premium seats and 3D viewings more attractive as options as well, relative to pricier entertainment alternatives. Problem is, there simply aren't enough premium theaters to meet demand, so audiences are often waiting days to go see a new film simply to be sure of securing the best seats at a premium auditorium.
This trend suppresses opening weekends, while allowing stronger holds into second and third weekends. But crucially, those opening numbers are part of driving word-of-mouth and media coverage that can boost attendance and provide longer legs at the box office.
Bottom line is, more premium theaters means more business at higher prices, which is good for multiplexes and studios, while costing the average moviegoer just two or three extra bucks – and most people only see three movies a year in theaters anymore, four at most, so the total annual price inflation is only around $10. That's a small price to pay for the benefits of those premium seats for these blockbuster tentpoles, especially when scale matters, as it does for films like Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Fantastic Four And IMAX
Which all brings me to my review of Fantastic Four: First Steps, and if you've read my reviews before then you know the venue in which I watch movies matters a lot. I prefer those premium seats by a wide margin, so I always try to explain to you as potential moviegoers why certain viewing experiences will improve your sense of awe and enjoyment, and why it's worth a couple of extra dollars for that.
Nowadays in the Covid era, most people have reduced their theatrical attendance after several years getting used to watching more films and streaming at home on ever-larger 4K UHD televisions. I personally have a 75-inch tv for our regular living room viewing, and a regular movie screen and seats in my basement with a 4K laser projector and Dolby Atmos sound system, so that makes it even more important for me to secure seats at premium theaters when I go to the multiplex – I need something that's better than what I've already got in my average movie theater at home.
So it is that I attended Fantastic Four at the grand opening of a brand new IMAX at the MJR theater in Troy, Michigan. MJR is a Michigan theater chain, and this weekend they opened the largest laser IMAX theater in the state. Troy's Mayor Ethan Barker even turned out for a ribbon-cutting to officially open the theater.
With theatrical business struggling to recover to pre-Covid levels amid increasing competition for audiences' attention, the standout performance by premium theaters in the larger context of audience preferences for blockbuster tentpoles with high family appeal makes a new and biggest-in-state IMAX for the region a big deal, and likely to benefit the restaurants, bars, cafes, and parks in the busy area. So this was a particularly good reminder for me of how much the movie business and our shared desire for good entertainment reaches from Hollywood into our own towns and economies.
The new screen was indeed huge, not the smaller version of IMAX you tend to get elsewhere, and the laser projection is of course spectacular. Likewise the audio, which is the best I've heard in IMAX. For a film like Fantastic Four: First Steps, you definitely want the full scale and scope, trust me, and I sat as close as possible so when Galactus showed up… well, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Last thing I want to mention is that the film runs only two hours, so there's no danger of putting your poor bladder through a stress-test or developing sciatica by the third act, but the new IMAX also sported 'anti-gravity' seats of the leather recliner variety. Temperature settings and cushions like floating on air are included, so I could've even handled one of those three-hour stress-test movies here.
And I can't deny there was an added pleasure in knowing I was the first person to ever sit in that seat, or to watch a movie on that screen. I do still love theaters, after all (enough to build one in my own house), and I'm always happy to welcome a new one into the world.
Fantastic Four Review
Marvel and the late great Stan Lee launched their modern superhero world on the pages of The Fantastic Four issue #1 in 1961. Then, 57 years later, Marvel Studios released the films The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man in 2008, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was born. Today, after 17 years and 36 previous films, the MCU has finally released its own version of that very first Marvel comic book superhero team.
To be sure, there were three earlier attempts at adapting the Fantastic Four to the big screen. Well, four, if you count the 1994 production by Roger Corman, made only so the producers at the time could avoid losing rights to the property, but that film was never formally released and intentionally hidden away.
2005's Fantastic Four from 20th Century Fox was a bigger-budgeted production that scored a solid $333 million worldwide despite bad reviews and weak Cinemascore of B from audiences. The film is honestly not as bad as its reputation, and features pretty accurate characterizations in a story and production very faithful to the comics.
Its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer likewise did decent box office, albeit a decline to $301 million and with worse reviews from critics. Audience graded it about the same as its predecessor, though, and although it once again was overall faithful to the comics and continued the nice characterizations, Galactus was turned into a big cloud and severely underwhelmed on screen in a disappointing climax.
A reboot attempt in 2015 titled Fantastic Four had an even bigger budget and went for a 'gritty' approach that resulted in the worst reviews of the franchise yet, and a box office flop to the tune of a paltry $168 million. It killed Fox's future plans for the franchise, and then Disney's purchase of Fox brought the super-team into Marvel Studios' hands.
Finally. Finally!
The results are just about everything fans and audiences could've hoped for, despite not getting an origin story or even origin sequence. Although this could mean they go back and show the origin in one of the upcoming films, and do something akin to the film Gravity's spectacular photo-realistic portrayal of the shuttle or ISS destruction sequences. Doing an origin segment later feels like a cool approach, too, maybe one of them has nightmares about it after upcoming events in the Avengers films, or they recall the story to other heroes they meet in those films.
Regardless, Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn't miss the origin much, as we do get an opening sort of montage within montage to establish their backstory (the origin sequence itself, however, isn't shown on screen) and set up their unique standalone world in which they are the first and only superheroes who seem to exist on Earth.
Or rather, on this particular Earth, since it's a different world than the one(s) we've seen in the MCU so far. The retro-futurism style and technology approach is wonderfully reflective of the early 1960s comic books, and allows a unique visual feel for Fantastic Four that makes it different from anything we've seen in Marvel movies, lovely pop-art production values and brilliant colors.
I also applaud the choice to approach Fantastic Four as very much a sci-fi family adventure film with the most realistic visual effects of the MCU to date. There's something about the 1960s cultural aesthetics and hyper-realism to the sci-fi and action sequences that reminds me of the movie The Right Stuff crossed with a heavy dash of Interstellar and an aesthetic sprinkling of the streaming series Fallout.
Which is to say, it looks gorgeous and thrilling, among the best-looking Marvel releases like Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Doctor Strange. As the starting point for the MCU soft-reboot that continues into Avengers: Doomsday and culminates in Avengers: Secret Wars, it was the right choice to establish some visual tonal guardrails that signal the dawn of a new era is beginning.
And oh what a fabulous beginning it is.
Fantastic Four: First Steps stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm aka the Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm aka the Invisible Woman, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards aka Mister Fantastic, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch, and Matthew Wood as the voice of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.
Julia Garner portrays the villainous herald the Silver Surfer, and Ralph Ineson is the world-eating giant Galactus.
We all did our own fancasting ahead of this film's announcements, but whatever any of us speculated or hoped for, the cast of Fantastic Four: First Steps nails it. The family dynamics and most of their interactions land perfectly, and as usual Johnny and Ben provide much heart and laughs with their back-and-forth teasing.
I will quibble about some choices here or there, such as my preference for Ben to harbor a grudge against Reed (although there's room for that to manifest differently in coming films) or my feeling that Reed's fears and uncertainties are so important to his arc that we don't get much time to see him as his more typical self-assuredness about his intelligence and the team's status (it's precisely those attributes that lead him to harbor such fear and doubt once the big threat arrives, because he questions everything he believed).
But we've also seen those things in three prior movies, there's room to introduce them or accentuate them later, and what Fantastic Four chooses to do works for the story and is rooted in certain source material in the comics. So, it's the first time in a long while that a Marvel movie lacks any notable complaints or things that hamper its successful storytelling and ability to remind us why we love the MCU.
I am avoiding saying too much about the story, but I have to note that Fantastic Four also achieves a sense of Galactus' massive physical presence, the terror of what it's like to look up from the sidewalk and witness such a monstrosity stomping through Manhattan, and it reminded me of the way Godzilla: Minus One achieved a similar mind-blowing sense of scale and awe.
Fantastic Four: First Steps is the best MCU movie in years, and will reward multiple viewings. See it on the biggest screen you can find, you will not be disappointed. If this is the future of Marvel, the future is very bright.
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