LOS ANGELES — Marvel’s iconic first family has dramatically revitalized the superhero genre, achieving significant box office success with “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” This eagerly anticipated film, the inaugural cinematic venture for the heroes under the direct supervision of Kevin Feige and the Walt Disney Co., emphatically captured audience attention, securing a remarkable $118 million in its debut weekend across 4,125 North American theaters. This stellar performance, revealed through Sunday’s studio estimates, underscores a critical turning point for the studio and the broader cinematic landscape, challenging preconceived notions about audience fatigue within the superhero genre.
The opening weekend figures position “Fantastic Four: First Steps” as the fourth-biggest debut of the year, trailing only the highly successful “A Minecraft Movie,” “Lilo & Stitch,” and “Superman.” Furthermore, it marks the most significant Marvel opening since “Deadpool & Wolverine” shattered records with an impressive $211 million gross out of the gate last summer. The global appeal of the film was equally evident, with international markets contributing an additional $100 million from 52 territories, culminating in a robust $218 million worldwide debut that aligned perfectly with the studio’s internal projections.
This triumph arrives shortly after another major superhero reboot, James Gunn’s “Superman,” which premiered three weekends prior and has already surpassed a global earning of $500 million. That film, representing DC Studios—the other major player in the comic book film arena—secured a respectable second place domestically with $24.9 million. The parallel successes of “First Steps” and “Superman” provide compelling evidence against the prevalent “superhero fatigue” narrative, as highlighted by Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for Comscore.
Dergarabedian asserts that the issue is not a general weariness of superheroes but rather a “bad-movie fatigue,” suggesting that quality productions continue to resonate strongly with audiences. “First Steps” represents the latest endeavor to bring the beloved superhuman family to the big screen, following several previous attempts that garnered lukewarm receptions. This iteration, rooted in the original Marvel comics, transports viewers to a captivating 1960s retro-futuristic setting, chronicling the origins of the Fantastic Four—a family of astronauts transformed into superhumans by cosmic ray exposure during a fateful space mission.
The film introduces audiences to the core members of this extraordinary family: Reed Richards (portrayed by Pedro Pascal), renowned for his incredible ability to stretch his body to extreme lengths; Sue Storm (played by Vanessa Kirby), who possesses the power of invisibility; Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), who transforms into a fiery human torch; and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), distinguished by his immense superhuman strength encased in stone-like flesh. The narrative unfolds four years after the family’s cosmic transformation, showcasing how Reed’s innovative inventions have revolutionized technology and Sue’s diplomatic efforts have fostered global peace.
Marvel, a once dominant force in the cinematic universe, has been actively working to rekindle audience enthusiasm for its character-driven films. While its two preceding releases this year did not reach the astronomical box office heights of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which grossed over $1.3 billion, or the earlier “Avengers”-era blockbusters, there has been a noticeable critical upswing. This positive shift follows the poorly reviewed “Captain America: Brave New World,” which ultimately secured $415 million worldwide, indicating a renewed focus on critical reception alongside financial performance.
Similarly, “Thunderbolts,” which ushered in the summer movie season, received a more favorable critical response, though its financial performance capped out at just over $382 million globally. The Fantastic Four characters, much like Deadpool and Wolverine, were previously under the 20th Century Fox banner for many years. Fox had produced two critically panned but decently profitable adaptations in the mid-2000s, famously featuring future Captain America Chris Evans as the Human Torch, and another unsuccessful attempt in 2015 with Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller.
The current “Fantastic Four” film materialized after Disney’s significant $71 billion acquisition of Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019, providing a fresh opportunity to reintroduce these iconic heroes. Despite some rival studio projections slightly exceeding the final opening weekend results, as noted by Dergarabedian, the film is poised to significantly bolster movie theater earnings well into August. Its strong performance suggests a promising trajectory for Marvel’s revitalized cinematic endeavors and the broader superhero genre, dispelling lingering doubts about its appeal to global audiences.
