‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Surfs to $218 Million Global Box Office Launch

Marvel Studios’ “Fantastic Four: First Steps” has returned Disney to the “feast” part of what has been a feast-or-famine 2025 for it at the box office, earning $118 million domestic and $110 million worldwide for a $218 million global box office start.

That result is just short of the $220 million global start of Warner Bros.’ DC July release “Superman,” with stronger grosses in Europe and Mexico making up for a dip in Saturday domestic grosses to $33 million.

Still, in a sign of the challenges both Marvel and DC will face getting audiences interested in new incarnations of superheroes, this launch is below the $289 million start of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023, which opened to a similar $118 million domestic start.

Now we will see how “Fantastic Four,” which like “Superman” does not have any connections to previous superhero films or TV shows, will be able to bring back casual moviegoers who no longer show up to everything the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to offer. Reception has been strong with an 88% critics and 93% Rotten Tomatoes score, going with an A- on CinemaScore.

Two months ago, Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” was well received by those who turned out for its $74.3 million domestic opening weekend, but only earned a relatively low 2.55x multiple and a $190 million domestic final cume.

A similar multiple for “Fantastic Four” would equate to a $300 million run, though Disney is hoping for more in an August with more demo-tailored films such as Universal/DreamWorks’ “The Bad Guys 2” and Paramount’s “The Naked Gun,” both of which open next weekend.

More to come…

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