After years of teasing, Marvel's First Family made its way to the MCU.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps easily topped the box office, achieving one of the best debuts of the year domestically. Outside America, though, it was a mixed bag, as it came in below estimates. In some other news, we've got a bunch of films hitting new milestones worldwide this weekend.

The Top 10 earned a combined $179.1 million this weekend. That's down a rough 36.7% from last year, when Deadpool & Wolverine obliterated so many records.

Debuting at #1, The Fantastic Four: First Steps earned a pretty fantastic $117.6 million in 4,125 theaters. That's easily the best debut for the characters, doubling the debuts of the 2005 film ($56 million) and 2007 sequel ($58 million). And it also already doubled the domestic lifetime of the terrible Fant4stic ($56.1 million). For 2025 releases, it's the fourth best debut, behind Superman ($125 million), Lilo & Stitch ($146 million) and A Minecraft Movie ($162.7 million).

Since Disney bought 20th Century Fox, one of the main assets was Fantastic Four. Fans were heavily anticipating the characters making their way to the MCU, especially after Kevin Feige confirmed at the 2019 Comic-Con that they were coming. Instead of rushing it, they took their time to make sure the final product would be worth it for fans.

Development didn't fully move forward until 2022, when Matt Shakman, coming off the success of WandaVision, was hired as the director. It wasn't until February 2024 when Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach were confirmed as the new team. All four were buzzy stars, which helps with getting people interested. Subsequently, Marvel smartly decided to avoid the typical origin story seen in so many superhero films, opting to have the film when the team is already established.

The marketing was very efficient, promising audiences that this would be an entirely different Fantastic Four film. The key point: besides skipping the origin story, the retro-futuristic 1960s setting. That made it stand out, not just from the prior F4 films, but the MCU itself. Disney was aggressive on the marketing, giving it lots of press tours and interviews. So far, it has paid off: it's sitting at a great 87% on RT, easily the best F4 film. And another selling point: announcing that the characters were set to return in Avengers: Doomsday next year, raising awareness even further.

So far, everything has panned out. Well, almost. The one downside for the film's performance: it was front-loaded, even for MCU standards. The film opened with $24.4 million in Thursday previews, but the film had a rough 42% drop on Saturday. In contrast, Thunderbolts dropped 22.4% on Saturday. Thursday previews represented 20.72% of its weekend gross, which is the biggest share for the MCU. So basically it had the worst Internal Multiplier (weekend gross/Thursday previews) in the whole MCU. That means it was more fan-driven than usual for the MCU.

According to Disney, 58% of the audience was 25 and over, indicating that the F4 attracted some young audiences. A colossal 68% of the audience was male, which is insanely high even for the MCU or superhero films in general.

Audiences gave The First Steps an "A–" on CinemaScore. That's solid, but not fantastic word of mouth, although it's the best score for the F4 in general. August is practically empty from blockbusters, but F4 will still experience some competition, even if the films don't open as high as this. For now though, a $300 million domestic total is likely for The First Steps. But that depends on its second weekend drop.

Due to the arrival of Fantastic Four, Superman saw a rough drop this weekend. It fell 57%, earning $24.8 million. While it's a rough drop, it could've been worse considering it lost IMAX and we're talking about a $100+ million opener arriving. The film has earned $289.4 million, and it will soon pass Man of Steel ($291 million). Given that its only direct competitor is out of the way, it should stabilize from this point on. For now, it's still set to finish with over $350 million domestically.

Jurassic World Rebirth dropped 44%, adding $13.2 million this weekend. The film has now crossed $301.7 million domestically. Last week, it was $26.6 million behind Dominion through the same point, and now that gap has grown to $30.8 million. Given that it will continue losing ground, its chances of hitting $350 million are over.

F1 actually moved up one spot, as it eased just 36%, earning $6.3 million. The film has amassed a pretty great $165.6 million, and the film should continue holding well through August, especially with an IMAX re-release coming up.

On its second weekend, Smurfs grossed $5.4 million. That's a 51% drop, which is very weak for an animated film. Through 10 days, the film has earned a meager $22.8 million, and with The Bad Guys 2 opening this week, it will continue dropping.

In sixth place, I Know What You Did Last Summer added $5.2 million this weekend. That's a very rough 59% drop, far worse than the original (20.9%) and the sequel (57.5%). Through 10 days, the film has made just $23.6 million, and it only has very little left in the gas before Together and Weapons steal its audience. Whatever the case, it's now guaranteed to finish as the lowest grossing film in the franchise.

How to Train Your Dragon dropped 46% for a $2.9 million weekend. The film's domestic total stands at $257.1 million.

To the surprise of no one, the worst drop in the Top 10 belonged to Ari Aster's Eddington. It collapsed 62%, the worst second weekend drop in Aster's career, for a pretty weak $1.6 million. A crazy drop, but considering the arrival of a blockbuster and the film's divisive word of mouth, it's not really a surprise. Through 10 days, the film has earned just $8.1 million. Today, it will pass Beau Is Afraid's domestic lifetime, but it won't make it much further than $10 million at most.

The Indian film Saiyaara made its way to the ninth spot, earning $1.4 million this weekend from just 210 theaters. The film has earned $3.3 million so far.

Rounding up the Top 10 was Sony Pictures Classics' Oh, Hi!, which cracked $1.1 million in 866 theaters. That's an okay start, given the film's mixed reviews (63% on RT), although it's unlikely the film will expand much further.

Roadside Attractions released James DeMonaco's The Home in 1,015 theaters, but the film wound up outside the Top 10 with just $1 million this weekend. It will fade quickly from theaters.

OVERSEAS

The Fantastic Four: First Steps had a pretty promising debut domestically. Overseas, however, is less fantastic.

First Steps debuted with $99 million overseas, for a $216.7 million worldwide debut. That's very underwhelming, coming in below expectations. Its best debut was in Mexico ($12M), which was the best ever for the characters. It also had solid debuts in the UK ($10.8M), France ($5.1M) and Brazil ($5.1M). The rest of the bunch, however, ranged from mediocre to downright terrible. In China, the film flopped with just $4.5 million, which is even worse than Superman (along with absolutely terrible word of mouth causing it to crash). It had unremarkable performances in Australia ($4.8M), Italy ($4.3M), Spain ($3.1M), Germany ($3M), South Korea ($2.9M), India ($2.8M), and Japan ($2.5M).

This is not a great start, managing to have a lower worldwide debut than Superman, and suggests it will be domestic-heavy. Which is weird, because all the Fantastic Four films were stronger outside America. It remains to be seen if it will hold well, but right now, $600 million is not guaranteed. Given its high $200 million and extensive marketing campaign, it'd be disappointing if it misses it. That would be a crazy performance, considering how high the interest was for the characters when they joined the MCU.

Jurassic World Rebirth added $24.8 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to $719 million. Its best markets are China ($75.6M), the UK ($39.1M), Mexico ($32.4M), Germany ($24.8M) and France ($21.3M). Japan is the only market left, which means it will have enough gas to hit $800 million.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle continues destroying records in Japan. On its second weekend, it posted 3.25 billion yen ($22M), taking its run to a gigantic 14.2 billion yen ($89M) after 2 weeks. It's outgrossing Mugen Train in yen, but it's below it due to exchange rates. Regardless, this film is heading for some insane numbers in the country. Its performance also diluded interest in Fantastic Four this weekend, as the film debuted with a weak $2.5 million, basically just over one tenth of Demon Slayer's second weekend.

F1 earned $20.7 million overseas, allowing it to take its worldwide total to $510 million. Given the reported $200 million budget, the film has officially crossed the break-even point, everything from this point on is pure profit. Its best marekts are China ($51.4M), the UK ($26.7M), France ($24.7M), Korea ($18.7M) and Mexico ($18.7M). Given its insane holds and without much blockbusters on their way, there's a very strong possibility it could cross $600 million.

Superman was the top Hollywood title at the overseas box office last week, but it has dropped all the way to fourth place, even below older titles like Jurassic World and F1. This week, it added $19.9 million overseas, for a $503 million worldwide total. Its best markets are the UK ($29M), Mexico ($20.3M), Brazil ($13.9M), Australia ($13.3M) and France ($11.5M). Given its holds, it should definitely hit the $600 million milestone.

Smurfs added $11.9 million this weekend, taking its worldwide total to $69 million. That's a very weak drop for an animated title, indicating that the film is not attracting audiences. It should hit $100 million, but that's still flop territory.

How to Train Your Dragon was another film that crossed a milestone. With $5.2 million, it passed the $600 million milestone. The best markets are China ($38.9M), Mexico ($36.9M), the UK ($29.1M), Brazil ($20.9M) and France ($19.1M).

But there's actually another film hitting a milestone. Earning just $1 million overseas, Sony's 28 Years Later has crossed $150 million worldwide. That's pretty much 2.5x its $60 million budget, which means it has finally broke even. And that's before ancilliaries.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

Movie Release Date Studio Domestic Opening Domestic Total Worldwide Total Budget Final Destination: Bloodlines May/16 Warner Bros. $51,600,106 $138,130,814 $285,307,993 $50M Ballerina Jun/6 Lionsgate $24,501,663 $58,051,327 $131,796,712 $90M

Death, taxes and profit. That's the inevitability of the Final Destination films, as Bloodlines has finished its run with a fantastic $285 million worldwide. Easily the highest grossing in the franchise (and its best-reviewed), proving that there's still a lot of life left in here. You can be certain that WB will greenlight a follow-up any minute now.

John Wick may be unstoppable, but turns out Ballerina is pretty much stoppable, as the film closed with a very disappointing $131 million worldwide, failing to recoup its investment. Spin-offs are tricky, especially when it's a character the audience never knew before. So despite positive reviews and word of mouth, along with a star like Ana de Armas, audiences weren't really interested. This is unlikely to change plans for John Wick: Chapter 5, but what about the planned universe that Lionsgate banked on? Is that Caine spin-off still coming out?

THIS WEEKEND

We've got two newcomers, but none stand a chance in dethroning Fantastic Four.

The first is DreamWorks' The Bad Guys 2. The original film surprised by earning $250 million worldwide, so a sequel was pretty much inevitable. Given that summer has been pretty weak for animated films (the failure of Elio and Smurfs), families will probably choose a familiar property to take their kids. Just how close will it perform to the original?

Paramount is resurrecting one of their comedy IPs, The Naked Gun, with Liam Neeson taking over Leslie Nielsen's leading star. The marketing has been pretty great, showing that despite Nielsen's absence, it's still the same Naked Gun everyone loved. The one risk is that comedies have been hit-and-miss at the box office for the past years. Can The Naked Gun wind up closer to hit?

Neon is also releasing body horror film Together, starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, which opens on Wednesday. The film earned high buzz following its Sundance premiere, and some bad PR after a plagiarism lawsuit. But general audiences don't pay much attention to that, they only care if the product looks intriguing. It can benefit from the poor reception to I Know What You Did Last Summer, but competition with Weapons next week might impact it.

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