Superman is about to lose his box office crown after just two weeks as the dominant force in cinemas, which is not really surprising when this weekend will see the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The real question, though, is which movie will have the biggest box office of the summer, and can either movie dethrone Disney’s Lilo & Stitch to become the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of the year so far? Current projections suggest that it is too close to call.
Superman opened just under a fortnight ago on July 11, soaring up the movie charts and claiming the number one spot easily with a global haul of $220 million. According to Deadline, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to open with a worldwide gross of between $190-$210 million, made up of $90-$100M domestic and $100-$110M international.
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first movie in the MCU’s Phase 6, and is the beginning of the end of the Multiverse Saga. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a long way from being done, its time exploring the Multiverse is set to end with Avengers: Secret Wars, and this summer’s release will be a big stepping stone towards that concluding crossover movie. With reviews landing a solid 86% Rotten Tomatoes score, there is now every chance that projected volumes for Marvel’s First Family may now actually surpass expectations and put Superman in the shade.
Superhero Fatigue Is Over
If anyone really believed that superhero fatigue was really a thing, then the last two years should really have proven that is not the case. Deadpool & Wolverine delivered everything it promised fans and reaped the rewards in 2024. While the box office runs of Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* did not set any records, the films continued to be popular, and pulled in the kind of box office that any other movie IP would be more than happy to have to their name.
Superman’s current global box office haul of over $410 million, and The Fantastic Four’s projected $200 million and above opening expectations suggest that both movies will perform well enough to find a place among the top movies of the year. In the end, if they entertain audiences, then they will fill seats, and the genre is far from dead, as many would have you believe.
In the end, superhero movies are no different to any other genre. Some will do better than others. Some have characters that people don’t care about as much, so they don’t feel an urgent need to rush to cinemas when they can catch the film on Disney+ or HBO Max in several months’ time. Then there are those that will hit cinemas like a punch from Superman himself.
Fantastic Four will be the most successful of Marvel’s 2025 releases, but no one is going to be excessively worried about the movie not making a billion dollars. The next two years will see the releases of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars. All three movies will blast past $1 billion, and some could even land near the top of the highest-grossing movies of all-time list along with Endgame and Infinity War. In short, superheroes are not about to vanish from cinema listings anytime soon.
Source: Deadline
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