As it enters its second weekend of release, Marvel’sThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsneeds to deliver an above-average hold at the box office. The movie delivered a decent-enough debut, but it’s already been made quite apparent that it’s skewing domestic, much likeJames Gunn’sSupermanfilm from a couple of weeks ago.The Fantastic Fourwill pass the $350 million mark at the worldwide box office this weekend, as itaims for a lifetime haul in the $600 million to $700 million range. While this would be a better result than those delivered by recent Marvel films, it’s far from the excellence that the franchise would routinely deliver half-a-decade ago. That said,The Fantastic Fourhas nowovertaken one of the last theatrical releases of a major American movie starwho’s back in action this week.
With $249 million worldwide, the movie is passing the $250 million milestone as we speak. It has also passed the $150 million mark domestically, and is set to surpass the $100 million milestone internationally. With this,The Fantastic Fourhas overtaken a host of older hits at the global box office. Among these are the forgotten YA adaptationEragon, the catastrophicX-Men: Dark Phoenix, andAdam Sandler’s poorly reviewed 2015 filmPixels. Directed byHome AloneandHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’sChris Columbus,Pixelsmade $243 million worldwide.
The Adam Sandler movie is currently sitting at a terrible 18% score on the aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, “Much like the worst arcade games from the era that inspired it,Pixelshas little replay value and is hardly worth a quarter.“Sandler effectively moved to streaming not long afterward, and has since appeared in only three theatrical films, two of which wereHotel Transylvania 2andHotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. Five trivia points to whoever can identify the third film. Sandler most recently starred inHappy Gilmore 2, which shattered Netflix viewership records in its opening weekend.
Marvel Needs ‘The Fantastic Four’ To Work
Meanwhile,The Fantastic Fouris hoping to turn the narrative around for Marvel Studios, after what has been a largely disappointing year so far. The once-infallible studio releasedCaptain America: Brave New WorldandThunderbolts*some weeks ago, and both movies concluded their global runs on either side of the $400 million milestone. You can watchThe Fantastic Fourin theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
