As the third and final Marvel movie of the year,The Fantastic Four: First Stepsdebuted last week with the added burden of performing for the MCU after the studio’s two previous films —Captain America: Brave New WorldandThunderbolts*— underperformed at the box office. However, despite superior reviews, the lesser-knownThunderbolts*fell short of the $400 million mark at the global box office. It also delivered stronger holds at the box office thanCaptain America 4, which had a bigger opening.The Fantastic Fouris trending more along the lines of the latest Captain America movie thanThunderbolts*, which doesn’t bode well for its future at the box office.
Themoderately well-received moviegrossed around $12 million on its second Friday, as itaims for a sophomore weekend haul of over $40 million. It’s set to pass the $200 million mark by Sunday. If the movie meets these projections, it will have fallen by over 65%, which is in the same range as the disappointingCaptain America 4.Thunderbolts*, on the other hand, dropped by 56% in its second weekend. The movie concluded its domestic run with around $190 million, whileCaptain America 4just about crawled past the $200 million mark.The Fantastic Fourhad a greater opening, which sets it up for a bigger haul eventually, but the movie isn’t the breakout hit that the troubled Marvel so desperately needs before next year’sAvengers: Doomsday.
One of the biggest reasons for its hefty fall is the sheer competition. In second place, DreamWorks debutedThe Bad Guys 2. The animated sequel grossed around $9 million on opening day and ispoised to generate over $20 million in its first weekend. The originalThe Bad Guyswas one of the earliest pandemic-era hits, grossing $23 million in its domestic debut and hitting the $250 million mark worldwide before concluding its run.The Bad Guys 2opened topositive reviews, but is sitting at a near-perfect 95% audience score onRotten Tomatoes. Not too long ago, DreamWorks’How to Train Your Dragonremake also scored an excellent 97% audience rating on the aggregator website.
All Three New Releases Earned Excellent Reviews
Debuting in third place, the spectacularly receivedThe Naked Gunreboot is poised to deliver starLiam Neeson’s best debut sinceTaken 3over a decade ago. The comedy reboot grossed around $6 million on opening day and isaiming for over $15 million for the weekend.The Naked Gunearned a 90% score onRotten Tomatoesand has drawn widespread acclaim from audiences, who awarded it an A- grade on CinemaScore. In fourth place,James Gunn’sSupermanis looking at a fourth weekend haul of over $13 million. This shouldtake its running domestic haul closer to the $320 million markby Sunday.
The top five list was rounded out by Universal’sJurassic World Rebirth, which is looking at a fifth weekend haul of over $8 million. This should take the film’srunning domestic haul past the $315 million mark, putting it neck-and-neck withSuperman. Also debuting this week, Neon’s body horror filmTogether, starring real-life coupleDave FrancoandAlison Brie, is looking at around $7 million for the weekend. The movie opened toexcellent reviews, which should help it in the long run.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
The Naked Gun
