Disney/Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is having a, well, fantastic start to its box office run. Including $24.5 million from Thursday previews, the film has earned a domestic opening day of $57 million and is headed for an industry estimated $123.5 million opening weekend.
The latest Marvel film is in lockstep with fellow July superhero film “Superman,” enjoying similarly strong reception with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 88% critics and 93% audience and an A- on CinemaScore. If matinee screenings overperform estimates, “Fantastic Four” could slip past the $125 million domestic opening of “Superman.”
Two months ago, the last Marvel film “Thunderbolts*” didn’t get very far after its solid $74.3 million opening weekend, grossing just $389 million worldwide. With a domestic start that is at least two-thirds higher than that film, “Fantastic Four” probably won’t reach the $1.33 billion heights of last year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” but will at least join “Superman” in a $600 million-plus global run.
That not only gets Marvel back on the right track but Disney as well. While the parent studio has Hollywood’s sole $1 billion-plus grosser this year with “Lilo & Stitch,” it has also dealt with multiple box office busts like “Snow White” and “Elio” along with the aforementioned “Thunderbolts*.”
“Fantastic Four: First Steps” gets the second half of this year off on the right foot, and will continue with films like “Freakier Friday” and “Tron Ares” before finishing off with “Zootopia 2” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
Elsewhere, “Superman” has taken a larger drop in its third weekend thanks in part to “Fantastic Four,” but is still estimated for a decent $24.7 million weekend total with a domestic cume of $289 million and a global cume approaching $500 million.
Universal’s “Jurassic World Rebirth” will hit $300 million domestic in its fifth weekend, earning $13 million for the frame as it approaches $700 million worldwide.
