Fantastic Four tops worldwide box office
It has been a fantastic fifth attempt for Marvel, who appear to have finally struck box office gold with their previously unloved series.
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Fantastic Four: First Steps opened worldwide on Friday and finally knocked Superman off the global top spot, taking $218m (£162m) through to Sunday.
DC’s Man of Steel reboot had enjoyed a fortnight of supremacy but was knocked off its perch by the superhero rival, which stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn. It cost £149m to make, however, so will need to double its takings to break even.
Fantastic Four made $57m (£47m) worldwide on its first day alone, which was the greatest single day performance of the year so far, marginally ahead of the $56m that Superman took.
Minecraft ($57.11m) still has the largest single day opening of the year. Chinese film Ne Zha 2 has made more than $2bn at the box office and is the highest performing title of the year.
The BFI is yet to release the UK box office figures for the previous weekend.
A fantastic return
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again,” William Edward Hickson said, and so Fantastic Four has proved, finally making a box office impact on its fifth outing.
It didn’t get off to a super start when The Fantastic Four (1994) was not even released. The Tim Story-directed Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) turned a marginal profit, but did not make enough for Fox to commission a threequel. The 2015 reboot Fantastic Four was a critical and commercial bomb.
The films did so badly that they were even mocked in last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine. But since Marvel, under Disney, took the rights from Fox, the studio has wasted no time in trying again. As well as Deadpool & Wolverine, characters also sprung up in Doctor Strange, and appear primed to be back for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Film blogger Seneer Asif told LBC: “It felt surprising that Marvel wanted to try again with Fantastic Four after so many failed attempts, but this is a testament to perseverance.
“Having the ubiquitous Pedro Pascal was a draw and fans are also excited that, this time, the characters feel more integrated into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe narrative.
“The film itself doesn’t reinvent the wheel but is strong enough to entice more to cinemas than just the super hero die-hards.”
He added: "Aside from Pascal, they have gone with up and coming actors who have been in some top rated TV and films recently. Having a top cast makes a big difference and it is what the previous films had been crying out for."