In what could perhaps be construed as the biggest blow yet for Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the movie’s daily earnings at the domestic box office have dropped to the same level as those of the 2005 Fantastic Four movie, released by 20th Century Fox. Basically, both movies earned a similar amount at the exact same stage in their respective theatrical runs, but with two decades separating them. What this also means is that way more people were watching the original Fantastic Four movie at this stage in 2005 than are watching the new film now.
Directed by Matt Shakman, the new movie was released to massive fanfare, seeing as it was the grand debut of Marvel’s “First Family” in the MCU — the highest-grossing and most influential film franchise of all time. Previously, Spider-Man: Homecoming opened to similar excitement in 2017, before going on to gross more than $800 million worldwide. The Fantastic Four is currently sitting at around half that film’s total haul. Its domestic total stands at around $235 million. On day 21 of release, The Fantastic Four generated just under $1.5 million domestically. Back in 2005, the original Fantastic Four grossed only around $20,000 less.
Directed by Tim Story, the original Fantastic Four concluded its run with $154 million domestically, and $333 million worldwide. It spawned a sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which grossed $132 million domestically and a little over $301 million worldwide. Both movies featured Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm. Unlike the new film, which has been rather well-received, both original Fantastic Four movies received poor reviews.
Marvel Has Had a Tough 2025
Starring Pedro Pascal,Vanessa Kirby,Joseph Quinn, andEbon Moss-Bachrach, the new movie currently holds an 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Benefitting from rock-solid cast chemistry and clad in appealingly retro 1960s design, this crack at The Fantastic Four does Marvel’s First Family justice.” But the film’s box office performance has left much to be desired. What makes things worse is that Marvel’s other two 2025 releases — Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* — also fell short of expectations. You can watch The Fantastic Four in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
