Fantastic Four Box Office Exceeds Projections With One of Year’s Best Openings

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is off to a strong start at the box office and is on pace to exceed its initial opening weekend projections. According to Deadline, First Steps is currently estimated to gross between $120-125 million domestically over its first three days. The film’s box office prospects improved after it posted $57 million in its opening day, the second-best opening day haul of the year so far (A Minecraft Movie made $57.1 million in its first day). First Steps will easily have the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s strongest opening weekend of 2025, clearing Captain America: Brave New World ($88.8 million) and Thunderbolts* ($74.3 million).

Marvel’s latest should now open in the same ballpark as Superman, which grossed $125 million domestically when it opened earlier this month. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is also going to post one of 2025’s strongest openings. It’ll be the fourth film this year to date to earn $100+ million in its first traditional three-day weekend. Jurassic World Rebirth and Brave New World hit that mark over extended holiday frames.

Heading into the weekend, signs were pointing to The Fantastic Four: First Steps earning a little less than Superman. The first wave of projections indicated it would make somewhere between $100-110 million domestically over its opening weekend. First Steps seems to have gotten a boost from the word of mouth; it’s the first Fantastic Four film to be Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the cast and the movie’s retro-futuristic aesthetic.

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The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to be a much-needed reprieve at the box office for Marvel Studios. Both Brave New World and Thunderbolts* underwhelmed at the multiplex, finishing their runs as some of the MCU’s lowest-grossing installments to date. As the franchise builds to the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, it was vitally important for First Steps to be a hit.

Superman director James Gunn downplayed the notion of a Marvel vs. DC box office rivalry earlier this year, feeling there was plenty of room for both to have lucrative runs this month. Gunn was more right than he could have predicted. Not only did Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps post healthy openings, Jurassic World Rebirth got July started in a big way with $147.8 million over its first five days. It’s great to see the box office thriving as the summer movie season winds down; earlier in the year, there were some notable flops, sparking concern within the industry. But over the past few weeks, a trio of major studio tentpoles all performed well, turning “Super Fantastic World” into a success.

A strong start is great, but the real test for The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be how well it holds over the next couple of weeks. Superman continues to be a draw, passing $400 million worldwide last week, but there won’t be much in the form of new competition throughout August. There are some noteworthy releases set for that month, but nothing on the scale of a major comic book adaptation. If Fantastic Four: First Steps can take advantage of that marketplace moving forward, Marvel will have something to build on.