THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Faces A Steep Decline At The North American Box Office This Weekend

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Faces A Steep Decline At The North American Box Office This Weekend

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is performing better than other recent MCU movies at the North American box office, but the reboot is facing a steep decline during its second weekend in theaters...

By JoshWilding - Aug 02, 2025 04:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Fantastic Four
Source: Deadline

The Fantastic Four: First Steps has managed to avoid crashing and burning at the box office in the same way as Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*. However, predictions for the reboot's second weekend in theaters are understandably raising eyebrows.

After opening to $117.6 million last week, the movie is expected to gross $40 million to $45 million over the next couple of days. On the lower side, that's a pretty steep 66% decline, which is better than Captain America: Brave New World (68%) but bigger than Thunderbolts* (56%). The latter somewhat benefited from marketing shifting to *The New Avengers

These numbers suggest that The Fantastic Four: First Steps had a front-loaded debut, with fans rushing to see Marvel's First Family on the big screen again, but everyone else...not so much. 

It's not all doom and gloom, though. The Fantastic Four: First Steps had a decent week in North America and should reach $200 million by Sunday. The Marvel Studios movie has already outgrossed every other feature starring this team, and it's received glowing reviews from fans and critics alike. 

Those haven't been quite enough to help The Fantastic Four: First Steps soar to the same heights as Superman, suggesting there's a level of MCU fatigue. Disney's habit of flooding Disney+ with Marvel Studios content has also likely led to a change in the habits of moviegoers when it comes to this franchise. 

We now have a year to wait until Spider-Man: No Way Home, and even longer than that for Avengers: Doomsday. That could be beneficial in the long run, and global numbers (which should hit later today) will give us a better idea of how The Fantastic Four: First Steps is performing overseas. Superman has excelled in the U.S., but struggled elsewhere; is the opposite true for Mister Fantastic and company? We'll see. 

The Bad Guys 2 is expected to open to $22 million, with The Naked Gun eyeing a $16 million start. Superman, meanwhile, is looking at a $13.5 million haul, confirming that the Man of Steel hasn't been hurt by Marvel's First Family. If anything, the opposite could be true. 

Stay tuned for more box office updates throughout the weekend. 

Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.

Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

Also appearing are Natasha Lyonne as Rachel Rozman, Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder/Mole Man, Sarah Niles as Lynne Nichols, and Mark Gatiss as Ted Gilbert. John Malkovich was set to play Red Ghost, but was cut due to time constraints.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is directed by Matt Shakman from a screenplay by Josh Friedman and Eric Pearson and Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer.

In our review of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, we concluded, "The Fantastic Four is an exceptional introduction to the MCU’s First Family, and thanks to a Jack Kirby-infused feel that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before, it proves to be a quintessential superhero movie with Marvel Studios at its brilliant best.

The movie is now playing in theaters.

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THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS TV Spot Reveals First Official Look At Galactus As More Box Office Updates Hit

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ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/2/2025, 4:15 AM
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ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/2/2025, 4:20 AM
HA! @RockReigns was wrong!!! He's said a 60% drop. It was even [frick]ing worse!!
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MonkeyBot
MonkeyBot - 8/2/2025, 4:25 AM
Imma watch it even harder
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 8/2/2025, 8:17 AM
@MonkeyBot - that's my motto for everything in life
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 4:32 AM
Imagine a milestone that even the historically bad DCEU did not reach.

3 films in a year all underperforming.

I hope marvel learns the right lessons and does the correct takeways from this
Sinner
Sinner - 8/2/2025, 4:37 AM
@vectorsigma - DCEU did that in 2023. Flash, Aquaman and Blue Beetle all flops
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 4:44 AM
@Sinner - oh right! I stand corrected.

I guess it is a softer blow with Blue Beetle having less than 130M budget.

ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/2/2025, 5:08 AM
@vectorsigma - DCEU literally had 9 flops in a row.

10 if you count ZSJL which did get a limited theatrical release and cost an additional $70M to produce.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 5:15 AM
@ObserverIO - oh im not defending the dceu. I was just comparing a year of performance
SpiderParker
SpiderParker - 8/2/2025, 7:29 AM
@vectorsigma - It's not really a softer blow considering that DC's movies in 2023 cost around $540 million while Marvel movies this year cost $560 million without taking into account any marketing and re-shoot costs for either. While DC made only $840 million back from those 3 movies, Marvel has crossed a billion and is still going so you can probably expect $300 million more from Fantastic Four.

So, that milestone remains with DC for quite a long time, I'm sure.
dragon316
dragon316 - 8/2/2025, 7:40 AM
@Sinner - aquaman made billion sequel not to much
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 7:41 AM
@SpiderParker - yep, i stand corrected on that.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 8/2/2025, 8:19 AM
@vectorsigma - dude, really? That's your go-to move since Superman is tracking better than F4? Three tail-end films from 2023 that were undercut by the introduction of a new universe at the beginning of the year ....
LibraMatter
LibraMatter - 8/2/2025, 4:36 AM
Still really enjoyed it! They will still be in Avengers either way. Haters going to hate and to me, it is my favorite Fantastic Four movie.
Canyoublush
Canyoublush - 8/2/2025, 5:54 AM
@LibraMatter - It’s not haters it’s just superhero fatigue. Had this film come out a decade ago it would have made half a billion already. You know why because it’s fantastic.
dragon316
dragon316 - 8/2/2025, 7:43 AM
@Canyoublush - super hero fatigue excuse look how many movies marvel made before infinity war people still saw them glad you enjoyed it hate how they beat galactus , fantastic four fox version I enjoyed more costumers are more NSYNC with team, Johnny comedy playboy plays with team and doesn’t show much with women except for one nurse in first movie
mountainman
mountainman - 8/2/2025, 8:13 AM
@LibraMatter - This is a similar situation to Thunderbolts. Critics like it, the audience likes it, but it’ll (most likely) not turn a profit in theaters. It looks like the general audience has lost interest in MCU movies that aren’t event films.
MouthyMerc
MouthyMerc - 8/2/2025, 4:38 AM
Still a top 10 MCU film and it felt like pre Endgame Marvel. Fight me.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 8/2/2025, 5:20 AM
@MouthyMerc - idk what audience want. They want old MCU back and they are getting it back. These last two movies felt like phase 2 and three movies. Easily one of the best they have had in years, excluding nostalgia bait movies.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 8/2/2025, 5:23 AM
@MouthyMerc - Those box office numbers ain't reflecting that.
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Apophis71
Apophis71 - 8/2/2025, 7:20 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - I don't think the studios know what anyone wants either truth be told, I mean there was increasing talk of all MCU films feeling the same and too formulaic in the runup to Infinity War thus went with trying a wider variation in narrative style and tones in phase four and the more divergent from the 'norm' one way or another tended to be the ones when it cames to films that struggled most (such as Eternals and Antman3) whilst the opposite tended to be so with streaming shows (ie WandaVision and Loki which were very different in many ways and their biggest two TV hits). They also faced everyone complaining about delving into the multiverse as what was wrong yet the films that fully leant into that such as NWH, MoM and DP&W along with Loki on D+ were amongst their biggest hits.

I mean ultimately we want well written content and some of the flops were down to too many flaws in that regard which I feel in part was down to too much content plus COVID resulting in less oversight and a rush to get stuff made before suffice time to work out the kinks and seems the lack of brand trust due to that has impacted good films more than I thought it would by this point post DP&W being such a big hit.
Sinner
Sinner - 8/2/2025, 4:38 AM
That’s [frick]ing awful. Marvel’s a spot of bother ngl
TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 8/2/2025, 4:43 AM
It seems like the damage done in phases 4 and 5 was far worse than we thought.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 4:52 AM
And with this result, im afraid it will be D&W levels of stupidity, nostalgia and cameos once again.

Im still not excited for Brand New Day, sounds like an episodic adventure which I dont think is needed with Doomsday being the next film.

As for Doomsday, the Russo's lack of skills will now be more apparent with low CBM hype.
Canyoublush
Canyoublush - 8/2/2025, 5:55 AM
@vectorsigma - I’ll say this if you think Deadpool & wolverine is levels of stupidity and nostalgia I’ll happily take that over superman any day of the week.
dragon316
dragon316 - 8/2/2025, 7:46 AM
@Canyoublush - yeah Superman had parts I didn’t like but unlike fantastic four I can rewatch Superman again it was enjoyable fun to watch , fantastic four felt like I was avatar with marvel characters
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 8/2/2025, 4:58 AM
I saw it two times. I’d gladly see it again.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 8/2/2025, 5:13 AM
@AllsGood - is this good?

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vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 5:17 AM
@harryba11zack - he will just reply with CBM burnout 😭
SteviesRightFoo
SteviesRightFoo - 8/2/2025, 5:19 AM
Good. Maybe stop releasing middling , uninspiring crap ?
IAmAHoot
IAmAHoot - 8/2/2025, 5:26 AM
@SteviesRightFoo - Your life must not be fulfilling.
SteviesRightFoo
SteviesRightFoo - 8/2/2025, 6:09 AM
@IAmAHoot - they had us on the hook for years and slowly lost a great deal of the audience. It's disney marvel fault, nobody elses
Fogs
Fogs - 8/2/2025, 6:36 AM
@IAmAHoot - as sad as it is, he's not wrong, there's no twisting the fact the MCU brought it to themselves.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 5:27 AM
This will have a domino effect on the Doomsday script.

Marvel in desperation and panic mode trying to add Reynolds, Jackman, Tobey and Garfield now.
MadThanos
MadThanos - 8/2/2025, 5:42 AM
@vectorsigma - I simply don't understand at a human level the story of Doomsday. Nothing that leaked makes any sense to me.

Well, at least we'll have those guys.
IAmAHoot
IAmAHoot - 8/2/2025, 5:48 AM
@vectorsigma - Highly doubt that. Whatever they’re doing with Doomsday is already in place (as far as what they have planned anyway; doesn’t mean they have all castings confirmed though).
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/2/2025, 5:50 AM
@MadThanos - You could probably find some clues about the story in Hickman's Avengers run. Especially the finale, Time Runs Out.
Canyoublush
Canyoublush - 8/2/2025, 6:03 AM
@vectorsigma - Doesn’t matter what you think or believe. Doomsday will easily surpass superman by the time of its release. It’s pretty much guaranteed to be a billion dollar extravaganza. The only think stopping it is either WW3 or another pandemic. Everyone will come out in droves for this. Literally everyone. It doesn’t even matter that F4 is flopping once doomsday is out, F4 will reap success on Disney plus because people will go back to watch it. Whatever Gunn is doing with the DCU will fail. The general audience were content with the DCU with Cavill as Superman, Mamoa as Aquaman & Gadot as WW. Now everything is rebooted they are just gonna repeat the same thing again but to no avail. It’s like the Batman. How many times can you reboot something? The DCU is literally discount/temu DCEU. Watch this space. The MCU will always succeed because they built things on a solid foundation. The DC slate as it stands with Warner bros is an absolute mess. It’s just reboot after reboot after reboot in such a short amount of time. People get fed up after a while.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 6:31 AM
@Canyoublush - lolz, China has been a big factor on the success of these movies and they are done with cbms now. A lot of countries too. Add to that almost zero buildup on Doom. So good luck getting endgame numbers.

And comparing an avengers film with Superman is similar you saying 500M is "peanuts" these days so i wont engage on that lolz
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/2/2025, 6:39 AM
@ObserverIO - this is the problem, it seems these movies are not hitting the general audience anymore unlike in the past. F4 was frontloaded because comic and cbm fans trooped the cinemas on the first week. But didnt resonate with the GA. Im actually glad i can hear these comic backgrounds from you and other peoole here.

So what happens is, Marvel resorts to that time and tested method of nostalgia and cameos.

@MadThanos i dont have an idea on where Doomsday is going too, talking as a mid cbm fan/general.audience here.
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