‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ stretches to a $118M opening weekend

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.

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.