Fantastic Four First Steps flames on with $118M debut

Fantastic Four First Steps had a strong opening weekend with a $118 million debut. That marks by far the best opening for a Marvel Studios film since last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine ($211 million). Fantastic Four First Steps’ debut eclipsed the $88 million of Captain America: Brave New World and the Thunderbolts* ($74 million).

Fantastic Four First Steps got off to an impressive start with $57 million, which is the second-best opening day of any film save for A Minecraft Movie. The video game adaptation barely held on with its $58 million. Early weekend estimates suggested Fantastic Four First Steps could close in on Superman’s $125 million opening weekend, but it’s likely that the third weekend of DC Comics’ other flagship character’s strong word-of-mouth bit into First Steps profit.

That’s already good enough to be the 13th highest grossing film of 2025. Prior to the opening weekend, estimates for First Steps were lower around $100 million to $113 million. First Steps should be a strong performer over the next few weeks thanks to positive buzz. It has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- on CinemaScore, which has nearly identical marks to Superman. The Man of Steel’s latest film has 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and a similar CinemaScore.

First Steps should quickly become the highest grossing live-action adaptation of the Fantastic Four. The 2005 installment starring Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd ended its worldwide run with $330 million. Its 2007 sequel The Rise of the Silver Surfer fared slightly worse with $301 million. Both were received far more positively than the 2015 effort, which starred Miles Teller and Kate Mara, and earned a measly $167 million.

Superman couldn’t three-peat, but still added another $25 million to its tally, which now soars at $289.5 million domestically and a worldwide total of $503 million. With Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman leading the way with not a lot of competition as the big summer blockbusters wind down, the two comic book based films should erase the questionable narrative of superhero movie fatigue.

Jurassic World Rebirth came in third with $13 million to hit $301 million domestically and $718 million worldwide.

Coming in at fourth was F1: The Movie with $6.2 million for its fifth weekend. That takes its haul to $166 million and $509 million worldwide. Smurfs completes the top five with another disappointing weekend performance. Its sophomore outing managed $5.4 million, half of its $11 million opening weekend to take its total to $22.7 million domestically and $69 million worldwide. Smurfs has a $68 million budget, so it still has a way to go in order to recoup its marketing costs and actually make anything close to a profit.

Photo Credit: Disney

Pre-order Marvel Studios: The Art of The Fantastic Four First Steps now at Amazon.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.