‘Fantastic Four: First Steps' scores Marvel's first $100 million box office opening of 2025
That makes it the fourth biggest opening of the year, behind 'A Minecraft Movie,' 'Lilo & Stitch' and 'Superman,' and the biggest Marvel opening since 'Deadpool & Wolverine' grossed $211 million out of the gate last summer. Internationally, 'Fantastic Four' made $100 million from 52 territories, adding up to a $218 million worldwide debut. The numbers were within the range the studio was expecting.
The film arrived in the wake of another big superhero reboot, James Gunn's 'Superman,' which opened three weekends ago and has already crossed $500 million globally. That film, from the other main player in comic book films, DC Studios, took second place with $24.9 million domestically.
The box office success of 'First Steps' and 'Superman' means 'the whole notion of superhero fatigue, which has been talked about a lot, can I think be put to rest. I always say it's bad movie fatigue, not superhero fatigue,' said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore.
'The Fantastic Four' review: In a jet age dream of Manhattan, Marvel's world-savers take care of business'First Steps' is the latest attempt at bringing the superhuman family to the big screen, following lackluster performances for other versions. The film, based on the original Marvel comics, is set during the 1960s in a retro-futuristic world led by the Fantastic Four, a family of astronauts-turned-superhuman from exposure to cosmic rays during a space mission.
The family is made up of Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), who can stretch his body to incredible lengths; Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), who can render herself invisible; Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), who transforms into a fiery human torch; and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who possesses tremendous superhuman strength with his stone-like flesh.
The movie takes place four years after the family gained powers, during which Reed's inventions have transformed technology, and Sue's diplomacy has led to global peace.
Both audiences and critics responded positively to the film, which currently has an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and promising exit poll responses from opening weekend ticket buyers. An estimated 46% of audiences chose to see it on premium screens, including IMAX and other large formats.
The once towering Marvel is working to rebuild audience enthusiasm for its films and characters. Its two previous offerings this year did not reach the cosmic box office heights of 'Deadpool & Wolverine,' which made over $1.3 billion, or those of the 'Avengers'-era. But critically, the films have been on an upswing since the poorly reviewed 'Captain America: Brave New World,' which ultimately grossed $415 million worldwide. 'Thunderbolts,' which jumpstarted the summer movie season, was better received critically but financially is capping out at just over $382 million globally.
Like Deadpool and Wolverine, the Fantastic Four characters had been under the banner of 20th Century Fox for years. The studio produced two critically loathed, but decently profitable attempts in the mid-2000s with future Captain America Chris Evans as the Human Torch. In 2015, it tried again (unsuccessfully) with Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller. They got another chance after Disney's $71 billion acquisition of Fox's entertainment assets in 2019.
The 'Fantastic Four's' opening weekend results were a little less than some rival studio projections, Dergarabedian said. Nonetheless, the film is expected to carry movie theater earnings well into August.
Holdovers dominated the top 10, but one other newcomer managed to make the chart. The dark romantic comedy 'Oh, Hi!' earned $1.1 million from 866 screens.
'Jurassic World Rebirth' landed in third place in its fourth weekend with $13 million, followed by 'F1' with $6.2 million. The Brad Pitt racing movie also passed $500 million globally. 'Smurfs' rounded out the top five with $5.4 million in its second weekend.
The box office is currently up over 12% from last year.
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps,' $118 million.
2. 'Superman,' $24.9 million.
3. 'Jurassic World Rebirth,' $13 million.
4. 'F1: The Movie,' $6.2 million.
5. 'Smurfs,' $5.4 million.
6. 'I Know What You Did Last Summer,' $5.1 million.
7. 'How to Train Your Dragon,' $2.8 million.
8. 'Eddington,' $1.7 million.
9. 'Saiyaara,' $1.3 million.
10. 'Oh, Hi!,' $1.1 million.
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Trouble in the MCU The first year that Marvel Studios started producing series for Disney+ there were four big budget live-action series ('WandaVision,' 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,' 'Loki' and 'Hawkeye'). In 2022, there were three ('Moon Knight,' 'Ms. Marvel' and 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law') with two in 2023 (the second season of 'Loki' and 'Secret Invasion'). There were two shows in 2024 ('Echo' and 'Agatha All Along') and there have been two so far this year ('Daredevil: Born Again' and 'Ironheart'), with a third on the way later this year ('Wonder Man'). 'I do think that it has eroded the branding,' said Dave Gonzales, the co-author of the indispensable history of Marvel Studios, 'MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios.' 'All of the sub-brands have been eroded.' For Marvel, he said, it's particularly interesting because it followed a period of being at the top of the industry. 'They were finally getting to do what they wanted to do – put everything in development.' 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But they ran into problems almost immediately, with the global pandemic impacting productions and even the rollout of series (for instance, 'WandaVision' was originally meant to come out after 'Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness' and then had to be reconfigured to tee up that sequel, which also starred Elisabeth Olsen). 'Marvel remade how they made franchise movies but they thought they could do the same thing with television – you can't,' said Gonzales. 'They think they're more nimble than they actually are.' With 'WandaVision,' Gonzales said, they moved the movie pipeline to a television pipeline and ended up with shows that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. 'We'll never have TV shows that cost that much again,' he added. 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It's one of the best things that the studio has ever made — eight half-hour episodes about a softball team, with each installment told from a different player's point-of-view (or their coach or their parent…) The show fared OK — Nielsen said that it earned 6.2 million viewers in the U.S. over the first 35 days – but making a direct-to-streaming show disrupted Pixar's pipeline, pulling resources away from features and costing as much as one of those bigger projects. A long-form streaming series that was meant to follow 'Win or Lose' was quietly canceled and may get reworked into a feature at Pixar. And there hasn't been anything announced, long or short, on the Pixar side of things. The damage has been done. The survivors Not every Disney brand has taken a huge hit. Disney's live-action slate has been largely unaffected, thanks to a combination of approaches. The service used to have a robust line-up of original movies, from a live-action Lady and the Tramp' to 'Hocus Pocus 2.' Some even drifted off the 21st Century Fox assets like 'Home Sweet Home Alone.' But none of these films encroached on any of its brands. If there had been a new live-action adaptation of a beloved Disney animated movie appearing regularly on Disney+, it might have bitten into that business. But they knew, from the beginning, that less was more. And after a while, Disney decided to simply remove most of the movies from Disney+ entirely – you can't find 'The One and Only Ivan,' co-starring and produced by Angelina Jolie or sci-fi adventure 'Crater' or the charming 'Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made' on the platform. These were big-deal titles that Disney touted as being key to their service. They also decided to move some of these projects to theatrical. A 'Moana' series was reconfigured as 'Moana 2,' which was released theatrically last year and made over $1 billion. 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These were the projects that embodied Disney – either in their wholesomeness, their entertainment value or their desire to push things forward, technologically or storytelling-wise. 'Brand withdrawals' were projects that actively took away from the Disney brand, either because they didn't fit tonally or didn't deliver on the Disney promise. The brand withdrawal of Disney+ is huge. The company seems to be taking the right steps to course correct – chiefly, to not put out as much product on the streaming service and to re-emphasize the importance of theatrical exhibition. There are far fewer new things on the service. So far this year, there has been a single Disney+ original film and far fewer Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios projects. These numbers will get even smaller, as the streaming service puts its weight behind a handful of projects that hopefully more will enjoy. And just as 'Encanto' found new life on Disney+, the company, if it is smart, will emphasize the platform as a library of all things Disney. This is partially how the product was sold back in 2019. In a way, this might be the easiest way of rehabilitating the company's brands – by reminding people of how good things used to be. Umberto Gonzalez contributed to this story. The post The Disney+ Curse: How the Streaming Service Hurt Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar Brands appeared first on TheWrap.
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5 hours ago
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