(L-R): Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch in Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
Disney
What superhero fatigue?
Twice in one month, a comic book film has rocketed to the top of the box office, debuting with more than $100 million in ticket sales.
Two weeks ago, it was “Superman,” the first theatrical release from James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-heads of DC Studios at Warner Bros. Discovery. This weekend, Disney and Marvel’s “Fantastic Four: First Steps” fueled an estimated $118 million in ticket sales during its first three days in theaters.
“The lesson is that if you build great movies, audiences will head to the multiplex,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Internationally, “Fantastic Four: First Steps” snared an estimated $100 million, bringing its global weekend haul to $218 million.
“Marvel bet big releasing their long-awaited introduction of the Fantastic Four as the last MCU film to hit theaters for at least another year, and it’s paying off,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “The franchise has had its share of hiccups in recent years, but Marvel’s First Family is winning over fans and spurring the kind of enthusiasm that could bring back casual viewers who sat out some post-‘Endgame’ chapters.”
Marvel has struggled in the wake of the record-breaking “Avengers: Endgame,” the culmination of more than a decade of interconnected storytelling. While films like “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” enticed moviegoers to theaters, others like “Captain America: Brave New World,” “The Marvels” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” failed to drum up the same enthusiasm.
Box office hauls haven’t been the only hit-or-miss for the studio. Marvel films have experienced significant fluctuations since the release of 2019’s “Endgame.” Previously, no MCU film had a Rotten Tomatoes score below 67%, meaning each had earned the title of “Fresh,” indicating that critics had a generally positive view of the film.
Since then, five films from the franchise have been below that metric and three of those were considered “Rotten,” earning less than 50% positive reviews.
This year, “Captain America: Brave New World” tallied $413 million globally and earned a 48% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But “Thunderbolts*” generated just $382 million globally — one of only five titles under the Marvel Cinematic Universe banner to tally less than $400 million worldwide — it secured an 88% “Fresh” rating.
Its newest theatrical entry, “Fantastic Four: First Steps,” also has an 88% “Fresh” rating from the site.
“For Disney, this has truly been a magical summer and for Marvel a reaffirmation that their strategy to revamp the brand is certainly working,” Dergarabedian said. “With ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ following in the footsteps of ‘Thunderbolts*’ Marvel is showing that a focus on quality rather than quantity is a recipe for success.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes.