‘Fantastic Four’ Craters by 66% as ‘Naked Gun’ Hits $17M: Box Office Stumbles and Surprises
Marvel Studios
Despite early promise, Marvel’s First Family falters while original IPs and animated sequels find solid footing.
After a buzzy debut weekend, Marvel Studios’ ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ is facing a brutal second-week decline, dropping a steep 66% to $40 million. Although still topping the domestic box office, the fall suggests tepid traction beyond hardcore fans. Meanwhile, Universal’s animated sequel ‘The Bad Guys 2’ and Paramount’s rebooted slapstick comedy ‘The Naked Gun’ offered more hopeful results, signaling audiences’ growing appetite for genre diversity and lighter fare.
‘Fantastic Four,’ starring Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby, opened to $117.6 million but couldn’t maintain momentum, despite decent reviews and word-of-mouth. Its second-weekend drop ranks among the steeper declines in recent MCU memory, trailing only behind flops like ‘The Marvels’ (–78%) and ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ (–70%). Still, its current global haul of $368 million keeps it ahead of 2025’s underperformers like ‘Thunderbolts’ and ‘Captain America: Brave New World.’
“Fantastic Four is not a top-tier Marvel franchise. Never has been,” Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock noted, adding that the real draw remains the eventual crossover into 2026’s ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and 2027’s ‘Secret Wars.’
In contrast, DreamWorks’ ‘The Bad Guys 2’ debuted with $22.8 million—nearly matching the first film’s 2022 opening. With an “A” CinemaScore and strong overseas start ($16.3M), the $80 million sequel is on track to replicate the first installment’s $250 million global run. “This is a good opening for an animation sequel,” said Franchise Entertainment Research’s David A. Gross.
Paramount Pictures
Paramount’s reboot of ‘The Naked Gun’ exceeded expectations with a $17 million domestic debut and another $11.5 million overseas. Directed by Akiva Schaffer and starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., the film played well with older male audiences (62% male, 50% over 35), earning an “A-” CinemaScore and 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. With a $42 million budget and strong audience reception, it’s one of the few theatrical comedies to make a real impact this year.
NEON
Indie distributor Neon also had a notable weekend with its provocative Sundance acquisition ‘Together.’ The Dave Franco–Alison Brie body-horror drama pulled in $6.8 million over the weekend and $10.8 million since its midweek launch. Although audiences were unsettled—reflected in a “C+” CinemaScore—the film’s disturbing premise (and Neon’s viral marketing campaign offering free couples therapy) generated significant buzz. “It’s a smart horror production that’s going to be profitable,” added Gross.
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Elsewhere, ‘Superman’ added $13.9 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its global total to $551.2 million. Universal’s ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ grossed $8.4 million in its fifth weekend, boosting its worldwide cume to $766 million.
Despite the mixed results, this summer’s box office is tracking 9.5% ahead of 2024, though still 23% below pre-pandemic levels. With summer revenues passing the $3 billion mark, analysts remain cautiously optimistic. “The $4 billion benchmark is still about a $1 billion away,” said Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian. “It’s no cakewalk, but potentially in play.”
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