After looking at the Fantastic Four’s box office history, I’ll be genuinely surprised if The Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t break a decades-long movie record with the MCU film’s results. The MCU timeline has been without its own version of the Fantastic Four for a fair few years now, but this is thankfully set to change with the emergence of a new on-screen version of the team who will debut in 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Given the Marvel team has a somewhat complicated movie history, the MCU installment offers the chance for a fresh film start for the group, coming 10 years after their last live-action release.
While this puts the pressure on the movie to do well and provide an iteration of the group that satisfies fans – especially those who’ve waited decades for Marvel to do justice to the faction on the big screen – this history also means the MCU Fantastic Four movie seems more capable of breaking some specific records set by its predecessors. This is particularly true when it comes to the matter of box office results, since the older nature of the previous Fantastic Four movies – and their own divisive reputation – means The Fantastic Four: First Steps already looks set to destroy a major milestone for Marvel.
The Fantastic Four’s Box Office History Doesn’t Go Over $400 Million
While the Fantastic Four are an iconic corner of Marvel’s superhero history, their movies haven’t come close to the heights of Marvel’s highest-grossing films. The original 2005 Fantastic Four movie was the team’s highest-grossing Marvel movie in terms of its worldwide box office, with the release reportedly having made $333 million in its theatrical performance (via The Numbers). This isn’t a strictly bad result for a 2005 superhero movie, as Batman Begins‘ 2005 release itself is only reported to have made $356-375 million (via The Numbers & Box Office Mojo) itself, but plenty of Marvel movies have made more.
The 2015 Fantastic Four movie fared less well compared to its ancestor from a decade prior, with the Chris Evans-starring superhero film’s own worldwide box office making $167 million – a number that is somewhat more unfortunate, since the 2015 film is also reported to have cost around $120 million without factoring in marketing costs, as per Variety’s 2015 coverage of the movie and its box office results. That said, its sequel – Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer – fared better, garnering a worldwide box office result of $289-301 million, even if its critical reception still proved somewhat divisive.
Ultimately, this paints a picture of some mixed success for the franchise, as while only one of these films fared notably less well, all of them are still a decent way off hitting the $400 million mark. This means all of these releases made less than every MCU movie other than The Incredible Hulk, and the majority of Marvel movies more generally speaking. Notably, this isn’t something entirely forced by the timing of the releases, since the Spider-Man movie trilogy – which ran from 2002 to 2007 – made between $795-895 in each of its respective releases (as per The Numbers).
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Has A Solid Chance Of Beating Every Other Fantastic Four Movie At The Box Office
Given even the lowest MCU latest worldwide box offices – that of Black Widow and Thunderbolts* – both made more than the highest-grossing worldwide box office of the Fantastic Four movies in their own respective results, The Fantastic Four: First Steps seems highly likely to match or beat the records set by all the previous Fantastic Four films in terms of their box offices. This would mean the 2025 MCU movie would have broken the record for the series, and would, for at least the time being, reign as the Fantastic Four movie with the highest box office results of all time.
Black Widow and Thunderbolts*are both currently reported to have a $379 million box office result, though this could be subject to some change given Thunderbolts* has not yet fully finished its theatrical release.
This wouldn’t require a particularly high box office result when compared to the average MCU release, and seems more likely given that the film is bringing back the group just before Robert Downey Jr.’s return to the MCU as the team’s main nemesis, Doctor Doom, meaning there are several reasons for fans to be extra interested in the film, and to want to see it as soon as possible. The Fantastic Four: First Steps getting to debut in the same month as Superman could also arguably increase interest in it, both because it’s a prime time for superhero movies, and because it shows both franchises building towards new futures.
With the MCU movie seemingly tying in to the setup for Avengers: Doomsday – which is confirmed already to have the Fantastic Four it in as well – there’s even more reason to believe that The Fantastic Four: Firsrt Steps can make it past the prior box office results of all of its predecessors, and bring in a new future for the team with this current iteration of the group. Given it’s more than likely that there are big plans regarding the future of the team following Doomsday as well, this would set a nice precedent for their story going forward, and underline the potential that sequels could also potentially hold.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Box Office Projections Bode Well For It Beating the Movie Record
Box Office Theory’s projections for The Fantastic Four: First Steps place its estimated results for the film’s domestic opening weekend at $125-155 million, which would be a promising start for the overall box office results of the 2025 MCU movie. Indeed, this would make its first weekend results equal almost the total worldwide box office of the 2015 Fantastic Four movie, showing both how exciting these projections would be for the film, and how it looks like the MCU installment may not have too much trouble matching and exceeding the results of its earlier peers.
However, these early projections aren’t yet set in stone for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and specifics regarding its overall financial results will only truly become clear once the movie has released and news begins to break about the actual tangible results it has experienced during its theatrical run. That said, it certainly seems the stage is set for the MCU movie to set a new historical superhero record, and in doing so, welcome the new Fantastic Four into the cinematic universe in a poignant and pleasant way.
