After Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* both underwhelmed at the box office earlier this year, there was hope The Fantastic Four: First Steps could salvage what’s been an uneven year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that First Steps has been out for over a month, it’s safe to say that it had an uneven performance of its own. After getting off to a strong start with a $117.6 million domestic opening weekend, First Steps suffered a massive second weekend drop-off and lagged behind some other summer tentpoles. While it’s not as big of a hit as Disney and Marvel wanted, it’s still managed to pass some impressive milestones during its run.
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As of this writing, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has grossed $257.3 million in the United States (via The Numbers). That figure means it’s now topped the $254.5 million domestic gross of Mufasa: The Lion King to become the 50th highest-grossing film of all time in Disney’s illustrious history. These figures are all unadjusted for inflation.
How The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ Box Office Compares to Mufasa: The Lion King
The Fantastic Four and Mufasa had different paths to $250+ million domestically. Whereas the Marvel film benefited from a massive opening weekend, the Lion King prequel relied on strong legs. Hitting theaters last December, Mufasa debuted with just $35.4 million domestically. What seemed like another commercial misfire for Disney’s line of live-action remakes and adaptations turned into a surprise sleeper hit. After Christmas, Mufasa took advantage of a slow January marketplace and emerged as a sizable draw. It stuck around the domestic top 10 for 12 consecutive weekends.
Rather than declining in its second weekend, Mufasa actually made more money after its debut. The $36.8 million it earned in its second weekend was a +3.9% increase. From there, it held very well; Mufasa didn’t see a drop-off greater than 40% until its 10th weekend in late February. This is a stark contrast from The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which saw a drop of 67.1% in its second weekend, illustrating a harsh new reality at the box office for Marvel.
While First Steps has passed Mufasa domestically, the two films aren’t close on the worldwide charts. Mufasa ended its run with $722.6 million globally, more than $230 million more than Fantastic Four‘s $490.5 million haul (as of this writing). First Steps has actually earned more domestically than internationally, which is a rare occurrence for a major studio tentpole. Many of Disney’s highest-grossing films of all time benefited from strong showings overseas. This shows how much things have changed over the past handful of years. Studios can’t count on a consistent international turnout anymore, which is why Marvel is reportedly looking at ways to scale back production costs.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps should be able to work its way into the 40s on Disney’s all-time chart before its run is over. Up next is Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 49th place with $259.7 million, and The Incredibles isn’t much further away with $261.4 million. First Steps wasn’t as big of a blockbuster as the studio would have liked, but cracking the top 50 in Disney’s rich box office history is no easy feat.
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