Talk about a two-edged sword.
Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps easily stayed atop the domestic box office chart in its second weekend with $40 million, but tumbled a worrisome 66 percent. That’s more than anyone could have predicted after the event pic opening to $117.6 million last weekend amid stellar audience and critical reaction. At the same time, it isn’t entirely outside the range of normal for the superhero genre. And there’s still a clear runway ahead before summer ends.
Fantastic Four had hoped to clear $200 million domestically through Sunday, but instead is projecting a 10-day domestic tally of $198.4 million, compared to cume of $236.2 million and a drop of 53 percent for DC Studos’ Superman in its second weekend (to be fair, the Man of Steel didn’t have another superpic to compete with, although Jurassic Park Rebirth had only opened a week earlier). Overseas, Mister Fantastic and his family made up ground in earning another $39.6 million for an early global tally of $368.7 million globally. That includes $170.3 million internationally, compared to Superman‘s current overseas total of $235 million.
In North America, Fantastic Four had no trouble fending off Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s new family pic The Bad Guys 2 and Paramount’s comedy Naked Gun, which opened in second and third place, respectively.
Bad Guys 2 started off with a better-than-expected domestic opening of $22.2 million. The sequel boasts the second-best animated launch of the year to date and came in not far behind the first film, which debuted to $23 million domestically on its way to transforming into a sleeper hit and earning more than $250 million globally (the series is adapted from Aaron Blabey’s best-selling book series about a crackerjack crew of animal outlaws).
Director Pierre Perifel and producer Damon Ross reteamed to make the sequel, which boasts both an A CinemaScore and generally strong reviews. The sequel also sees the return of original voice stars Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos and Awkwafina. Newcomers lending their vocal talent include Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Alex Borstein and Lilly Singh.
In the sequel, the animal crew is trying their best to be good, but plans go awry when they come out of retirement to stop one more heist and encounter a new trio of masterminds known as “The Bad Girls,” who are voiced by Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova and Natasha Lyonne.
Paramount’s acclaimed The Naked Gun revival — starring Liam Neeson opposite Pamela Anderson — also opened on the high end of expectations, with a North America launch of $17 million and $38.5 million globally.
As fate would have it, the $40 million comedy is the last film that the current iteration of Paramount Pictures will release before David Ellison’s Skydance officially closes its $8 billion merger with Paramount Global on Aug. 7. Affable movie studio chief Brian Robbins — who has also been serving as one of the three interim CEOs of Paramount Global since sale talks began last year — intends to step down once Ellison takes control of the entertainment conglomerate and installs his executive team both in the C-suite and at Paramount Pictures, according to sources.
The Naked Gun revival, produced by Seth MacFarlane, stars Neeson in his first leading comedic role opposite Pamela Anderson. He plays Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., who is trying to follow in the footsteps of his father, Frank Drebin, the infamous comedic character played by Leslie Nielsen in the original films. The new pic boasts an A-CinemaScore from audiences and strong PostTrak exits.
Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu and Danny Huston also star. The fourth film in the long-dormant franchise, directed by Akiva Schaffer from a script he wrote with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, opens 31 years after the last movie, 1994’s Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, graced the big screen.
One fun fact: Anderson is on double duty this weekend between Bad Guys 2 and Naked Gun.
Superman, now in its fourth outing, finished Sunday with a global tally of $551.2 million after earning another $13.9 million domestically and $11.2 million overseas. Last week, it became the first DC title in years to cross the $300 million mark in North America in a major win for the new leadership at DC, James Gunn — also the director of Superman — and Peter Safran. (DC has struggled far more than Marvel in modern times.
Produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin in partnership with Universal, Jurassic World Rebirth rounded out the top five in North America with $8.7 million for a domestic tally of $448.4 million and $766 million globally.
The weekend’s other new offering is Neon’s buzzy horror-comedy Together, starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. The indie pic came in sixth with a three-day weekend gross of $6.8 million for a five-day debut of $10.9 million.