The Fantastic Four: First Steps had a couple of weeks without any serious competition (though Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth posed a bigger problem than Marvel Studios likely expected), and now looks set to drop to third place in North America this weekend.
During Thursday previews, Barbarian director Zach Cregger's Weapons earned $5.7 million, with Disney's Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis-led Freakier Friday behind it at $3.1 million. The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailed both movies with $2.9 million, a decent enough hold that placed it ahead of The Bad Guys 2 ($2 million), The Naked Gun ($1.5 million), and Superman. ($1.4 million).
The latter continues to exceed expectations in the U.S., and appears to have connected with moviegoers in a way the latest Marvel Studios movie has not.
Heading into the weekend, it's looking like Weapons and Freakier Friday are going to be neck and neck. The latter is looking at a $27 million - $30 million haul, with the horror movie expected to land somewhere between $25 million - $30 million.
As for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it will make an estimated $18 million - $20 million in its third weekend, a 50% drop that puts it in the same ballpark as Captain America: Brave New World and Thor: Love and Thunder at the same point in their respective runs. That's a better result than last week, when it declined by 66%.
We're once again waiting on updated worldwide numbers for the latest MCU movie, as those should paint a clearer picture of where the First Family will ultimately land.
Marvel Studios is said to be forging ahead with a sequel (bringing back filmmaker Matt Shakman to direct), with the idea being that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will further increase interest in the Fantastic Four.
We'll see what happens there, but 2025 will end with Superman as the year's highest-grossing superhero movie. Even though that also hasn't been a runaway success, this is still a pretty big win for the DCU.
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.