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The Fantastic Four: First Steps opened as Marvel’s second big letdown this year, following the poor reception of Thunderbolts. The expectations were high for Marvel’s first family, but the movie struggled to spark excitement even with big names like Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, and Julia Garner leading the cast. With a $200 million budget, the film has barely crossed into profit, earning around $508 million so far (per Box Office Mojo), more than half of it from North America. Usually, Marvel titles attract wide global audiences, but the international turnout has been weaker than expected this time.
Superhero Films Losing Global Strength
The Fantastic Four’s performance reflects a larger trend. James Gunn’s new Superman reboot has been showing a similar pattern, where most of its revenue also comes from North America. Superman has earned more overall than Fantastic Four, but both releases reveal that superhero movies no longer guarantee global dominance. Once, the genre alone could assure massive international success, but audiences today seem less responsive, no matter which franchise the story belongs to.
Fantastic Four Vs Man Of Steel At The Box Office
Fantastic Four is still playing in over 2,700 theatres in North America, down from more than 4,100 during its release. Its domestic run is edging closer to the totals of Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel, which earned $291 million domestically and over $670 million worldwide. Even so, surpassing Cavill’s global haul is not realistic, and even beating his domestic number is proving difficult. The domestic collection gap between the two films is about $25 million, but Fantastic Four is slowing down quickly.
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