‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ stretches to a $118M opening weekend
Between ‘Fantastic Four,’ ‘Superman’ and ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ franchises continued to dominate the summer box office.
Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of July 25-27, 2025.
Programming note
The Box Office Report will be off next weekend. It’ll return on Monday, Aug. 11.
1. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Weekend gross: $118M
Total domestic gross: $118M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA
In the days before the pandemic, a $118 million opening weekend for a new MCU movie would’ve been underwhelming, especially after Avengers: Endgame obliterated box office records with its $357.1 million debut.
But in the current state of the box office and the MCU, The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ $118 million first weekend is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from things. It’s right in line with the $118.4 million that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opened with in May 2023 while improving on the recent $88.8 million and $74.3 million debuts from Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*. (It’s also less than $10 million behind what we saw from James Gunn’s Superman when it premiered two weekends ago.)
First Steps’ $118 million opening weekend was also a high mark across the board for the film’s director and primary cast: The film was director Matt Shakman’s feature film debut, topped Gladiator II’s $55 million debut for Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’s $64 million for Vanessa Kirby and, um, The Lake House’s $13.6 million for Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
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2. Superman
Weekend gross: $24.9M
Total domestic gross: $289.5M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 57
Superman slipped to No. 2 with The Fantastic Four: First Steps hitting theaters, but it’s closing in on becoming only the second Superman film to cross the $300 million mark.
At $289.5 million, there’s a chance it could pass the Man of Steel’s $291 million lifetime gross if its actual numbers come in higher on Monday. After that, Superman will set its X-ray vision on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s domestic haul of $330.4 million.
