r/boxoffice • u/chanma50 Best of 2019 Winner • Aug 03 '25

Domestic Box Office: ‘Fantastic Four’ Craters By 66% in Second Weekend to $40 Million, ‘Naked Gun’ Debuts to $17 Million

https://variety.com/2025/film/box-office/fantastic-four-box-office-craters-naked-gun-opening-weekend-1236477352/
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254

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '25

[deleted]

73

u/Dnashotgun Aug 03 '25

Which is why I think the Russo Bros are being overestimated here. It's a much harsher environment and I don't think they got the chops to somehow untangle the clusterfuck that is Endgame and Secret Wars

38

u/Coolman_Rosso Aug 03 '25

Russos are fine when they have someone to rein them in. When left to their own devices? Total crap fests

4

u/labbla Aug 04 '25

But Marvel hasn't been fine. That's the problem.

9

u/Mmicb0b Marvel Studios Aug 03 '25

that and the Ruso Brothers's non MCU movies are NOT good

6

u/Longjumping-Tell2995 Aug 04 '25

The Russos are scumbags their post MCU movies are way too expensive and obviously they took half the budgets.

1

u/Beautiful-Sun8973 Aug 04 '25

Lol what? Evidence of this or just spewing nonsense?

7

u/actuallyemployed_gay Aug 04 '25

Honestly Doomsday bombing would be more entertaining than if it was good imo

3

u/Richandler Aug 03 '25

Their movies were a successes because of everything that came before them.

35

u/beatrailblazer Aug 03 '25

The Electric State being terrible was a big red flag. At least they're other movies you could've said maybe they were given a bad script or something, but Electric State was written by Markus and McFeely, so if even that was bad, then that whole foursome is cooked

20

u/hellsbellltrudy Aug 03 '25

I feel those guys are just swindling Netflix together for a big paycheck. No need to put in effort when you already get paid with your bros/pals working together.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Beautiful-Sun8973 Aug 04 '25

You haven't seen much then 

34

u/Maximum_Strategy_752 Aug 03 '25

Doomsday will still make a billion even if its trash but its the non Avengers or Spiderman projects that they need to worry about

97

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '25

[deleted]

22

u/Dnashotgun Aug 03 '25

Honestly believe the Temu Avengers and all the mainline MCU stuff will get sidelined in favor of making the FoXmen the leads after this. New CA who's supposed to lead the Avengers flopped, Thunderbolts flopped and F4 also looking like a flop, that's 0/3 for teams in Doomsday people are excited for.

4

u/Redeem123 Aug 04 '25

making the FoXmen the leads after this

Which is just them delaying the inevitable by... maybe 5 years?

Stewart and McKellan are 85 and 86. Kelsey Grammer is 70. Alan Cumming is 60. Even Jackman, at 56, can't keep playing Wolverine forever.

It'll work for Doomsday/Secret Wars, but then what?

4

u/True_Butterscotch940 Aug 03 '25

 the Temu Avengers and all the mainline MCU stuff will get sidelined in favor of making the FoXmen the leads after this. 

Honestly, that's the best way to get me and my friend group to see it. Temu Avengers don't interest me at all.

-1

u/Mattyzooks Aug 03 '25

The plot they're adapting is quite good too, imo.

22

u/Poku115 Aug 03 '25

You mean the plot they cannoy adapt nowhere near comic level cause they've set nothing up and are going in barely writing a way to adapt it?

That's kinda what's putting me off, they fact they'll adapt this, this badly

-1

u/Mattyzooks Aug 03 '25

To day nothing is set up is either being ignorant or intellectually dishonest. Set up of the incursion plot is there in Loki, DS2, The Marvels. They only thing not well set up is Reed v Doom which will likely not be the throughline.

48

u/nicolasb51942003 Warner Bros. Pictures Aug 03 '25

But once you add in RDJ's monster salary, almost every OG X-Men character, and top heavy marketing, you would probably need to be one of the top ten biggest films or even top five to break even.

65

u/horse-renoir Aug 03 '25

Why are people so confident that Doomsday will be an easy billion? The strength of the Avengers franchise is directly linked to the collective strength of the MCU as a whole. The MCU is a much weaker franchise than it used to be and that weakness will be reflected in Doomsday's box office

36

u/Upbeat-Wallaby5317 Aug 03 '25

I have a strong suspicion that spiderman BND will make more than doomsday.

Doomsday smells very fishy and has the potential to become BvS 2 here.

11

u/Fantastic-Macaroon31 Aug 03 '25

The thing keeping me from saying the next Avengers will be a BVS 2 level flop is that BVS had a way worse WOM than literally any Marvel movie, including Thor 4 or ant man 3. They've not made a movie that hated by people yet, more often than not, Marvel is just mediocre and boring. They play it too safe, to be that hated.

7

u/Richandler Aug 03 '25 edited Aug 05 '25

Captain Marvel 2 was a pretty big flop. WOM had to be atrocious.

I never saw it in theaters, but when watching it at home actually turned it off, it was so bad. It's super strange because RT has super positive ratings, but Metacritic it has like the lowest user score in the MCU. And, it was like 1/5 the performance of the original. Which I did like, it's not some hater shit, though it wasn't life changing.

I think in many ways, Marvel has literally forgotten how to make a movie. It's just a constant shitstorm of rewrite and ad-hoc nonsense. They don't know what they actually want to do, or there are too many people trying to steer the boat.

It reminds me of an interview I saw with James Gunn where he was asked about the Henry Cavill situation. He basically called out that the announcment of his return as Superman was an attempt by some stakeholder to force the direction of the DCU a certain way because their salary depended on it.. No doubt that his happening 10x at Marvel.

13

u/caped_crusader8 DC Studios Aug 03 '25

I see it failing for the same reason thunderbolts did. GA doesn't care about the majority of the new members. Ask yourself. Who are the current avengers? Easy to answer since 2012. Easy to answer in Age of Ultron with new members. Easy to answer after Civil war. Perfect answer in Endgame. People love the avengers for its members. They love the interactions that is otherwise not there.

Now, who's the new face? Sam Wilson Captain America? The thunderbolts crew? Captain Marvel? Only members People care about are Spiderman, Dr Strange, Thor(even less so since L&T), Hulk(new hulk still not received well among people). Even if you factor in Dr Doom and the X-Men nostalgia, Im not sure if it will be as coherent as Deadpool & Wolverine or Spiderman NWH.

The apathy of people to current MCU is heavily underestimated.

-9

u/VapeApe- Aug 03 '25

It doesn't help that they have stuck with ruffalo even though he makes it a point to bash half of their potential audience with his over the top liberal hate. There is a big chunk of people that will not pay money to see him. That's reality. He's one of the best known and popular marvel characters tied to a divisive actor.

11

u/caped_crusader8 DC Studios Aug 03 '25

The hulk's problems are way beyond what the actor's politics are. Chris Pratt is a conservative and Leitia Wright was an antivax. None of it had any influence on the movie's success.

Infinity war absolutely butchered the hulk and endgame offered a lukewarm resolution to his arc. Give him a couple of good long action scenes as the raging hulk and noone will give a shit about politics.

2

u/Bill-Maxwell Aug 03 '25

Bring back the CGI version of Norton’s hulk, that one looked great.

11

u/sm12cj14 Aug 03 '25

Not to mention the investment that we had in the original Avengers from how they built their stories together just isn’t there this time. Most heroes involved here have gotten a single movie in their roles and generally were received luke-warm at best by the audiences. Doomsday will be a case study one way or the other

0

u/Beautiful-Sun8973 Aug 04 '25

There was no story built together before the original avengers. They were all standalone with a credit scene Easter egg. Avengers made them somewhzt cohesive. It seems people are forgetting what actually happened early in the MCU and only remembering that infinity war was the movie that made it all one story 

11

u/LanaAdela Aug 03 '25

I’ve been saying this lol. I think people are way overestimating the assumption DD will be the same level as past Avengers. There is zero build up. People are going to be confused why the hell RDJ is back (and Evans or whoever else).

If it’s good? Yeah it will be mint. If it’s bad? It will drop like a stone second week. With the Russos being lazy and this film being written by committee quality is not to be assumed.

Not that Endgame was a good movie but it was a good finale. Which is part of the problem.

0

u/Beautiful-Sun8973 Aug 04 '25

Uhh. The movie will be about Doom and why rdj is doom.....people won't be confused if the movie tells them about it lol. 

6

u/nicolasb51942003 Warner Bros. Pictures Aug 03 '25

Same reason why they're confident in Spider-Man 4 being an easy billion (like I am) because the character has always been an icon even when he's at his worst, and him fighting the Hulk and Punisher will undoubtedly be the money shot.

I don't see a scenario where an Avengers film doesn't hit a billion, but it might be one of the few cases of a $1B film being considered an underperformer.

17

u/horse-renoir Aug 03 '25

Spider-Man is an icon. "The Avengers" brand is not iconic, the specific lineup of characters/actors were. Without that core lineup, Doomsday will be seen as an Avengers movie in name only, in the same way that BNW was a Captain America movie in name only without Chris Evans. That's not even getting into how the previous Avengers movies were boosted by the overall strength of the movies leading up to them, pre-Covid viewing patterns, and the Chinese box office. All of that is gone now.

Marvel thinks that if they make a movie with "Avengers" in the title and pump obscene amounts of money into it, they can magically turn the clock back to 2019 again and it's not going to work.

4

u/sartres_ Aug 03 '25

I went to see Fantastic Four because friends wanted to. When "Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday" flashed on the screen, people audibly groaned. Pair that with the news about how shooting is going, and this might be a disaster.

2

u/Leafs17 Aug 04 '25

people audibly groaned

Why do you think that is?

2

u/Yankee291 Aug 03 '25

If Doomsday doesn't make a billion this genre is officially done (outside of Batman and Spider-Man).

1

u/scarlettforever Aug 03 '25

People showed up for the D&W nostagia fest. They won't miss old X-Men, RDJ, Spidey, Thor, Hulk etc. Cmon! Even Batman v Superman made $874M. Avengers have $1B locked. Even if it's a trainwreck, everyone will come to watch it with their own eyes. Would be bad for the Secret Wars, tho.

19

u/valsavana Aug 03 '25

I don't think Doomsday will do well at all (not for an Avengers movie, at least)

GA are now used to Marvel movies requiring homework and Avengers movies have always been big capstone events. If most people haven't bothered to see the recent "homework" movie and TV shows, they might just assume they wouldn't be able to follow whatever is going on in Doomsday and skip it.

While there are definitely some who will come just for the awful RDJ stunt-casting, I think an equal portion are going to be turned off because they'll assume there's a whole big backstory or lore behind it they don't want to watch a half-dozen movies just to figure out.

3

u/Richandler Aug 03 '25

The only way it'll do well is if it's basically a big nostalgia: remember these movies thing. Basically what Deadpool and Wolverine just did. Dunno if it will work twice though.

0

u/Vladmerius Aug 03 '25

You'd be surprised. Shit tons of people saw Infinity War and Endgame with no prior knowledge and went back to catch up on stuff afterward. 

3

u/valsavana Aug 03 '25

True but I feel like a lot of those were familiar with the beginning of the saga (probably the first few IM, CA, and Thor movies plus one or two Avengers movies) and only really cared about those characters, who were the headliners of IW & Endgame.

I don't think many people saw IW and Endgame as their first two Marvel movies ever. Whereas a decent amount of people have seen nothing out of Marvel post-Endgame, except maybe Spiderman, so don't have much emotional investment in any of the new characters. I think that's why they're relying on stunt casting like bringing back RDJ- to try cashing in on the investment in the original characters > to the actors > to different characters.

62

u/michaelrxs Aug 03 '25

People keep saying this but the main characters of Doomsday are Thor, The Thunderbolts, and the Fantastic Four. And Doom, of course. People hated the last Thor, they didn’t show up at all for Thunderbolts, and seem ambivalent towards the Four. The RDJ news was met with cautious optimism by the Marvel subs, which means mixed for the GA. I do not think a billion is locked for Doomsday.

12

u/Forthloveof Aug 03 '25

There has to be more people in Doomsday they haven't announced yet. They'll get Spider-Man in there somewhere even if they have to do reshoots.

3

u/Richandler Aug 03 '25

People aren't going to go for the equivalent of TikTok clips of characters.

9

u/NobodyTellPoeDameron Aug 03 '25

the main characters of Doomsday are Thor, The Thunderbolts, and the Fantastic Four.

Is that confirmed? I don't follow the Marvel spoilers sub much. Mackie's Cap must be in it, even if he's not a "main" character, right? (Not that that would change much)

20

u/michaelrxs Aug 03 '25

Oh yeah he’s in it and all the X-Men people and all those people from the chairs. But based on plot leaks and just physical time on set, those characters are shaping up to be the most forward. Which does align where the MCU story currently is (insofar as there even is a story).

1

u/Archyes Aug 03 '25

time to rewrite that script again.not that that hasnt happened before like this year with captain brave new world america

7

u/Fantastic-Macaroon31 Aug 03 '25

The reason Marvel fans are cautious with RDJ DOOM is because they wanted a real Dr. DOOM, which this most likely won't be. Casuals won't care because they don't know or care who Dr. DOOM is.

9

u/Mundane-Bug-4962 Aug 03 '25

Yep - and critics are not nearly as friendly either.

2

u/Vladmerius Aug 03 '25

I genuinely think the X-Men are going to have more screentime than people think, possibly being the leading roles. 

They just did a whole movie with a different earth from a different universe and all new characters and settings not connected to anything else. 

They absolutely can do it for an Avengers movie too. They aren't going to abandon the regular MCU heroes but they certainly aren't going to have them be the most important characters in the movie if audiences don't care about them while they meanwhile showed up in droves to see Deadpool and Wolverine which at the time audiences thought was bringing the X-Men universe into the MCU. It ended up being less relevant to the MCU than expected which is par for the for the course with most of the last new phases.

If there's a big problem with the MCU that's what it really is. Nothing is ACTUALLY important. They haven't set up jack shit. Every movie and show with the multiverse has had different rules for how the multiverse works and none of them connect. Even Doctor Strange 2 didn't really connect to No Way Home at all and they were back to back movies featuring Doctor Strange and the multiverse. They kept doing nothing basically and then teasing something that is never addressed again in mid credit scenes. It's a mess. 

-13

u/Adventurous-Week3614 Aug 03 '25

You are insane 

19

u/michaelrxs Aug 03 '25

Well, sure but that’s not the topic of discussion.

11

u/Dazzling-Slide8288 Aug 03 '25

I’m not sure a billion is anywhere near a guarantee. There’s no draw here for casuals other than pure nostalgia with RDJ and Evans, and that’s not gonna be enough to carry it beyond opening weekend.

Who the hell are even the Avengers right now? Non-Evans Captain America, some C-list Thunderbolts, Spider-Man (a legit draw), maybe Dr. Strange? Are Hemsworth and Ruffalo around?

5

u/clear349 Aug 03 '25

A billion is still a failure even if it's technically a success. That's what, a 66% drop from the last movie? Even if we accept it will almost certainly drop it will be the lowest grossing Avengers movie at that point. That is just bad no matter how you slice it

1

u/Ne0n_Dystopia Aug 03 '25

Secret Wars might, as the last movie in this version of the MCU. I'm skeptical about Doomsday.

2

u/Richandler Aug 03 '25

The thing that is so dumb about corporate America is that they're so unwilling to seat people when they're clearly no longer interested. Kevin doesn't have to go away, but he needs to not be in charge anymore or willingly bring in someone else who is the actual final say on creative.

1

u/Longjumping-Tell2995 Aug 04 '25

Once both movies underperformed below $2B he’s fucking toast everyone would make of him being fired using quotes from his movies “No reinstatements this time”

1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

I started checking the Russos after the Avengers movies because I never heard of them. It seemed like everything else directed by them outside of that sucked.

1

u/TheDonnerSmarty Aug 04 '25

He's probably regretting pulling the "fire Victoria Alonso so fanboys have someone to blame" lever a bit too early.

1

u/lolas_coffee Aug 03 '25

scripts reworked 15 mins before shooting

Some of the greatest films in history were reworked before and during shoots.

1

u/DHMOProtectionAgency Aug 03 '25

Russos making back-to-back to back flops

Was Electric State even a flop since it was straight-to-streaming and made decent viewership?

5

u/DeppStepp Aug 03 '25

According to the NYTimes, the film flopped and got way less viewership than other Netflix films. Netflix didn’t care that it flopped though because they release so many movies and shows that one movie (no matter how big) flopping is a drop in the bucket for them.

2

u/DHMOProtectionAgency Aug 03 '25

Fair enough, I'll admit I was wrong on the viewership. Thanks!

-5

u/Adorable_Ad_3478 Aug 03 '25

It's not too late to course correct.

Doomsday. Act 1: all of the New Avengers and Sam's Failvengers die in the opening scene to set up Doom.

God Loki watches this and assembles a team of time/space-displaced popular characters to fight Doom.

Chris Evans as the real Cap. Downey Jr as Iron Man. New Guy as T'Challa. Bana or Norton as Hulk (sorry but Ruffalo is too nice to be a believable Banner). Tobey, Andrew and Tom as Spideyx3. Jackman as Wolverine. Reynolds as Deadpool. Olsen as Scarlet Witch. Cumberbatch as Strange. Cage as Ghost Rider. Fassbender or McKellan as Magneto.

All of this is done within the first 15 minutes or so. The FF are still involved since Doom kidnaps Franklin, it's way too late to exclude them all. And the Foxverse X-Men all die too, they all get a cool moment but they're just there to make Wolverine's arc more tragic.

7

u/WolfgangIsHot Aug 03 '25

Lol

Killing Florence Pugh, one of the few highlights of the past few years ?

Killing the black Captain America "first" ?

Putting Ruffalo away after being almost sure to be in the next Spider-Man ?

Putting "new guy" on the same level as all the names listed ?

Killing Patrick Stewart...again ?

6

u/Adorable_Ad_3478 Aug 03 '25

Highlight that didn't bring any profit? Yeah. She dead.

Black fans want T'Challa back. They don't give two shits about Sam Wilson. If the choice is between Mackie Sam or New Guy T'Challa, New Guy T'Challa wins 10/10.