The Fantastic Four: First Stepsseemed to be getting off to a strong start last weekend and was all set to conquer the box office. While it has now maintained the top spot for a second week, fending off the continued theatrical run ofSupermanand new arrivalsThe Naked GunandThe Bad Guys 2, the signs of a huge box office haul have been grounded after a worrying Friday drop of 80% compared to the previous week.
Naturally, this seems to be one of those things that heralds the end of the MCU for some people, just likethe Silver Surfer’s warnings of the coming of Galactus to Earth-828in the latest addition to the Marvel franchise. However, there is a small caveat, as comparing the movie’s opening day – when die-hard MCU fans still rush to get into theaters before those [fill in your own expletive here] on TikTok and X spoil the film for them – to the following week is always going to deliver a harsh view of the figures. Currently,The Fantastic Four: First Stepslooks to be taking a hit of about 60-65% over the weekend, which is around average for big blockbuster movies.
‘Fantastic Four’s Success Continues a Staggering Box Office Trend for the MCU
Phase 5 might have been a dud, but it’s still raked in the cash for Marvel Studios.
It is true that many Marvel movies have seen second-week drops of higher than 60% in the last several years compared to movies released prior toAvengers: Endgame. However, in actual cold, hard revenue totals,The Fantastic Four: First Stepsis not going to have one of the lowest second weekends of the franchise, so perhaps those waiting to celebrate the death of the Marvel Cinematic Universe need to put their champagne on ice for now.
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Is Not a Flop
These days, social media is full of commentary from those who want to make their opinions heard about how bad James Gunn’sSupermanis, how everything is being ruined by woke casting, and how Marvel movies are dead. We won’t bother too much with this, because by the timeSpider-Man: Brand New Dayblasts through the $1 billion mark next year, we are in the guaranteedmulti-billion-dollar arena of Avengers movies.
Concentrating on the here and now,The Fantastic Fourwas expected to perform better than bothCaptain America: Brave New WorldandThunderbolts*, which it did with ease. Now, like all big blockbuster movies, the film will gradually pick up more money over the coming weeks, then receive a revenue boost from its VOD release, before finally finding its permanent home on Disney+ with the rest of the Marvel franchise.
At the end of the day, big IP movies can “underperform” at the box office, but still make money from various marketing promotions, merchandising revenue boosts, and various other sources to top up the coffer jar.The Fantastic Four’s biggest struggle has been at the international box office, as the now common poor showing in China that many U.S. movies have received lately is making it hard for many movies to achieve the kind of results they took for granted just five years ago.
