The Fantastic Four: First Stepshas broken a Marvel Cinematic Universe record after seven full days in theaters. The new superhero movie, which was directed by Matt Shakman, stars Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as the Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Thing, and Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch.
First Stepsis the fourth theatrically releasedFantastic Fourmovie, butit is the first to be part of the MCU, which is the multimedia franchise that kicked off in 2008 withIron Man. The new movie debuted on July 25, taking in a domestic opening weekend haul of $117.6 million.
PerDeadline,The Fantastic Four: First Stepstook in an additional $7.4 million at the domestic box office on Thursday. This brings its cumulative domestic total to $158.3 million at the end of its first full week in theaters, markingthe best week 1 domestic total for any MCU movie of 2025.
What This Means For The Fantastic Four: First Steps
It Should Easily Become The Highest-Grossing MCU Movie Of 2025
This record comes at the right time, because both previousMCU moviesthat premiered in 2025,Captain America: Brave New WorldandThunderbolts*, underperformed at the box office,continuing an overall downward trend for the franchise.
Although 2024’sDeadpool & Wolverinebroke box office records and became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, it was preceded by a pair of 2023 disappointments, asAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniaonly grossed $476.1 million against its reported $388 million budget, whileThe Marvelsreportedly lost the studio more than $200 million.
Below, see a breakdown of the week 1 grosses of the MCU movies of 2025 compared to how they ultimately performed both domestically and globally:
$113 million
$200.5 million
$415.1 million
$95.3 million
$190.2 million
$382.4 million
$158.3 million
TBD
One potential hurdle is the fact that the reportedbudget ofThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is roughly $200 million, is higher than both previous MCU installments, which reportedly cost $180 million apiece. Because movies often need to earn back two and a half times their budgets, thiscould place its break-even point as high as $500 million.
However, if it continues on its current trajectory,First Stepscould potentially end up grossing between $280 and $315 million at the domestic box officeand between $580 and $635 million globally by the end of its run, making it the highest-grossing MCU movie of 2025.
There are no other MCU movies set to premiere in 2025, with the next scheduled release beingSpider-Man: Brand New Day, on Aug 09, 2025.
Additionally, this numberwould probably putThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsin the black, likely making it the first MCU movie of 2025 to do so in theaters, even if the total is not quite enough to make it a full-on smash hit.
Our Take On The Fantastic Four: First Steps Record
It’s A Good Sign For The Future Of The MCU
WhileFantastic Fourprobably won’t break many MCU records outside of 2025,its solid performance is still a sign of recovery for the franchise. This is especially good news becauseFirst Stepsintroduces new characters to the franchise.
After this riskier financial move withThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, the MCU will be returning to more familiar territory with upcoming titles such asSpider-ManandAvengers: Doomsday. With 2025 finally achieving a more solid foundation for those titles to build from, they could potentially be poised to become major hits.
