UPDATE: 2025-06-07 13:01 EST BY LUKAS SHAYO

The Fantastic Four: First Steps Comes In Under Expectations As Superman Claims An Early Lead

This article was originally written Saturday AM and has been updated Sunday PM with up-to-date box office projections (in bold), a full chart, and further analysis.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’sThe Fantastic Four: First Stepshas already taken its first steps towards box office success. The latest Marvel movie,First Steps,reintroduces Marvel’s first family and comes just two weeks after the DC Universe shocked thebox office withSuperman’s impressive debut. Marvel hopes to match DC’s success after a slow post-pandemic trajectory.

The box office has been dominated recently by summer blockbusters after a relatively slow start to the year. James Gunn’sSuperman, Ari Aster’sEddington, and the ever-present dinosaur epicJurassic World Rebirthhave been ruling the summer. A few other scattered projects have also been released, including the horror-drivenI Know What You Did Last Summer.

According to a report byDeadline,First Stepsis expected to dominate the weekend with a strong start, though it isfalling under expectations with $118 millionin its first weekend. That projection puts it behind James Gunn’sSuperman’s opening weekend, as the other superhero epic enjoyed a $125 million debut.

WithSupermandealing with a -58% drop in its third weekend,nothing else earned over $25 million, meaning that this weekend was as close as it comes to a Marvel sweep. Check out the chart below, which showcases this weekend’s Top 5:

1

$118 million

$118 million (weekend 1)

2

$24.8 million

$289.5 million (weekend 3)

3

$13 million

$301.5 million (weekend 4)

4

$6.2 million

$165.6 million (weekend 5)

5

$5.4 million

$22.7 million (weekend 2)

The only major change in the charts this weekend wasThe Fantastic Four: First Step’s debut, whichforcedI Know What You Did Last Summerout of the top 5in its second weekend. With just $5.1 million projected after a -60% drop, it simply could not match the more family-friendly releases.

Pixar’sElio, which earned a place as the No. 8 movie last week, hascompletely fallen off the charts.How to Train Your Dragonfell to No. 7, thanks to a $2.8 million weekend, andEddington’s -62% drop saw it fall to No. 8. It is projected to be a fairly quiet weekend, outside the MCU’s notable hit.

What This Means For The Box Office

Fantastic Four Is A Cut Above

Nothing was ever expected to truly competefor the top spot this weekend, givenFantastic Four’s strong projections.Supermanearned $86.8 million last week, which is impressive given its $125 million debut, but it also faced limited competition. This should be a great week for the MCU, which will undoubtedly hope to see this success continue into the sophomore weekend.

This release came at the perfect time for the studio, which needed to improve its reputation. After years of decline from Marvel,First Stepsis a much-needed relief. Its opening weekend is projected to outperformThunderbolts*($74 million) andCaptain America: Brave New World($89 million), but it willmatch James Gunn’sGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3($118 million).

AmongMarvel’s post-COVID releases, it sits behind onlyDeadpool & Wolverine($211 million),Black Panther: Wakanda Forever(181 million),Thor: Love and Thunder($144 million),Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness(187 million), andSpider-Man: No Way Home($260 million).First Stepsis the only non-sequelamong those releases, which is a notable accomplishment for the studio.

Other new releases were unable to muster enough attention to fight back. After all,Fantastic Fourearned more than everything else combined.This weekend saw anoverall total of around $200 million, of which the superhero movies combined for around $150 million. Despite accusations of superhero fatigue, this weekend indicates that the genre remains prominent, even if it is under-performing.

Unfortunately, the rest of the box office is not doing especially well. WithSmurfs' $58 million budget, it will need to lean on its overseas performance to make up for its $22.7 million domestic total. The $25 millionEddingtonis facing similar challenges, given its $8.1 million overall total. The box office remains tumultuous, leading to some disappointing results.

Our Take On The Weekend Box Office

The MCU Needed A Win

After years of ridicule coming on the tail end ofFantastic Four’s(2015) disappointing debut, this is the first taste of success for Marvel’s First Family in years.It came at the perfect time,as the MCU needed to refocus on theatrical releases and quality over quantity in the wake of several consecutive disappointing box office performances.

Marvel Studios produced several shows for Disney+ when the streaming giant was first launched, includingWandaVision,The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, andLoki.

The quality is certainly there, asScreenRant’s Molly Freeman reviewedFirst Stepsand found that it lacks the “Marvel magic” but is"a fun-filled good time". The movie also managed to earn an A- CinemaScore, putting it right on par withSuperman. After months of speculation about where each release would fall at the box office, they remain head-to-head.

The coming weeks will determine where the actual winner of this bout will fall.

As for the rest of the box office, this continues 2025’s trend of mid-level disappointments. The blockbusters continue to find success fairly consistently, as they have all summer, but non-event movies are struggling to find traction. The rise of streaming platforms is partly to blame, as viewers have simply been waiting for these movies to leave streaming.

EvenFirst Stepsis somewhat struggling, given that some outlets projected a $135 million outing. The results appear to have been front-loaded with a poor internal multiplier from opening day. After Friday ushered in $57 million, Saturday brought just $33.2 million, and Sunday should see $27.8 million. It’s a worrying sign for the coming weeks.

The Fantastic Four: First Stepsis currently ruling the box office, but the coming weeks will determine where the actual winner of this bout will fall. MCU movies tend to be front-heavy, but if it can beatSuperman’s -51% week 2 drop, the sky is the limit, as unlikely as it is.Everything will depend on its sophomore weekend.