Box office news: Marvel’s ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ scores $218m global opening
It’s clear that Marvel Studios needs a win, and that could be happening courtesy of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which had a strong $200 million-plus opening weekend at the global box office.
After critical misfires and box office disappointments, a combination of star power and a reboot of a popular IP could be just the trick the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) was missing.
Film News Blitz’s Dan Lawrence takes a look at this fantastic first step at the box office.
A fantastic opening
Per Variety, The Fantastic Four: First Steps exceeded expectations, scoring $118 million from 4,125 North American theatres in its opening weekend.
As a result, The Fantastic Four: First Steps scored the fourth-biggest North American opening of 2025, behind A Minecraft Movie ($162 million), Lilo & Stitch ($146 million) and Superman ($125 million).
This beat the initial estimations of between $100 and $110 million, and international screens ensure the global tally stands at $218 million.
Battling superhero fatigue
The results not only prove that a Fantastic Four film can perform well, after 2015’s dismal reboot only managed a paltry £167 million worldwide in its entire run, but that the MCU can still pass muster with audiences.
Although critically well received, and in the eyes of Film News Blitz that the MCU can still carve unique stories within its sprawling framework, May’s Thunderbolts* performed disastrously, grossing just $382 million, a guaranteed loss for the studio.
Marvel has been accused of stretching itself too far and too thin, but The Fantastic Four: First Steps has a strong A- CinemaScore and a healthy 87% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which goes up to 93% for audiences), suggesting there is life in this mega franchise moving forward.
Perhaps being unique is the answer.
Ingredients for success
One of the better post-Avengers: Endgame projects was undoubtedly the Disney+ WandaVision series, and its executive producer, Matt Shakman, directed all nine episodes.
Shakman stepped up to direct The Fantastic Four: First Steps, set in a retrofuturistic 1960s landscape, separate from the established MCU.
The alternate timeline that this film is set in means viewers don’t need to do homework and deep dive into the extensive MCU canon to understand what is going on.
And what is going on is a stellar quarter cast as Marvel’s First Family: Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing) and Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch) - taking on Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer and Ralph Ineson’s planet-eating Galactus.
An Avengers-level threat, a unique time setting and an all-star ensemble cast.
Not a bad mix, and it appears audiences are inclined to agree.
How is the competition getting on?
The arrival of The Fantastic Four: First Steps means the two earlier big releases of July will have to play second fiddle.
Those are Superman (released July 11), which now sits at $502.7 million worldwide, and Jurassic World: Rebirth (July 2), which has climbed to $718 million globally.
When the dust settles, will The Fantastic Four: First Steps come out ahead of its July rivals?
