Disney and Marvel have struck again. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” (Taiwan translation: “Fantastic Four: The First Step”, Hong Kong translation: “The Fantastic Four: The First Step”) swept US$57 million at the box office on its first day, second only to the hit “Minecraft: The Movie” (US$57.11 million) at the beginning of the year, temporarily ranking second in the opening performance of 2025!
That figure also just topped DC Studios’ “Superman” ($56.1 million), setting up a weekend showdown between the superhero duo. If it can stabilize its reputation in the next three days, “First Steps” is likely to break “Superman”‘s three-day opening record of 125 million and become the new summer box office king.
MCU’s long-awaited “unbound universe” work, the audience is paying for it
The film is directed by “WandaVision” director Matt Shakman and stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, all new faces making their MCU debut.
What’s even more special is that “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” has almost no involvement in other Marvel Universe characters or plots. It is regarded as a relatively independent work and has successfully attracted an audience that is “universely tired” of the MCU. According to CinemaScore surveys, it received an A- from audiences, which was a pretty good response.
Disney’s $7.1 billion Fox acquisition finally pays off
The past three “The Fantastic Four” films were all produced by Fox and launched in 2005, 2007 and 2015 respectively, with mediocre reviews and box office performance. This time, Disney personally took charge and integrated the MCU, finally giving this “Marvel’s First Family” a chance to turn around.
It is worth mentioning that “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” are also reboot projects launched by Disney after acquiring 20th Century Fox. Both achieved high box office, proving that the US$71 billion acquisition was not in vain.
The MCU will be on hiatus in the next year, leaving only Spider-Man to attack
The production cost of this film is as high as 200 million U.S. dollars, and with the huge publicity expenses, it will definitely have to be in the top ranks of the annual box office to be able to make back the money. After all, this year’s first two MCU works, “Captain America: Brave New World” (88.5 million in its first week) and “Thunderbolts” (76 million in its first week), were both judged to have ended at a loss.
Disney hopes to use the good results of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” to revive the momentum of the MCU and warm up for the 2026 summer vacation of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (distributed by Sony) and the finale of “Avengers: Doomsday” at the end of the year. During this period, there will be a year and a half window for MCU blockbusters.
Other film status: DC Superman fell 57%, Dinosaurs exceeded 300 million, and the US version of “F1” is still struggling to hold on
The second place in the box office rankings on Friday was “Superman”, which took in US$7.1 million, a 57% drop from the same day last week. In three weeks, it has reached a total of US$289 million, surpassing “Sinners” and firmly ranking fourth in the year.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” remained stable in its fourth week, taking in US$3.6 million on Friday. It is expected to earn another US$13 million over the weekend, with its total box office exceeding US$301 million, becoming the third film of the year to exceed US$300 million. “F1”, produced by Apple Studios with an investment of 250 million, collected US$1.8 million, bringing the total to 165 million. Although the box office has not yet made a profit, the decline has been stable and the battery life is strong.
The worst thing is the reboot of “Smurfs”, which only received 1.72 million US dollars on Friday. The weekend estimate is 5.6 million, and the ten-day cumulative total is only 22.9 million. It is obviously weak in the face of a 58 million budget.