Fantastic Four: First Steps reveals huge box office opening and hits a new height for 2025
It's Marvel's best opening of the year by far.
After Marvel's first two cinema releases of 2025 (Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*) performed below expectations at the box office, the studio really needed a hit – and it looks like The Fantastic Four: First Steps has come up trumps.
The film took in $218 million globally in its first weekend, significantly higher than the total for both those aforementioned titles, which earned $192 million and $162 million in their respective opening weekends.
It's also roughly the same total as James Gunn's Superman – the first film in the relaunched DC Universe – which took in a total of $220 million in its opening weekend, revised from an earlier figure of $217 million.
However, one noteworthy point is that while the bulk of Superman's takings came from US-based cinemagoers, Fantastic Four's split between domestic and international Box Office is almost exactly even – $118 million in the States compared with $100 million overseas.
Marvel boss Kevin Feige will be hoping this is just the start of a successful big screen run, as he looks to revive the MCU to its past glories ahead of next year's major release Avengers: Doomsday.
In addition to its box office success, the film has also fared well with critics – sitting at an impressive 87 per cent approval rate on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with our own 4-star verdict calling it a "vivacious, beautifully rendered and largely enjoyable comic book spectacle".
The film, which is the 37th film in the MCU and one of the shortest to date, introduces Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Ben Grimm/The Thing.
These versions of the characters are not, at first, in the main universe of the MCU, and are instead in their own retro-futurist universe.
However, knowing that they will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, and considering the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts*, we imagine that won't last long.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now out in UK cinemas.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
