Fantastic Four Opens To Franchise-Worst $26.2 Million

The Fantastic Four reboot was supposed to revitalize the franchise for Fox with a young cast and a hot director. Suffice it to say that on that score, it’s failed miserably.

After horrifying bad early reviews, it looked like the $40 million opening that became the consensus forecast among industry-watchers was a best case scenario. The reality is worse, as the estimated total domestic box office take for the film is just $26.2 million, which wasn’t even enough to finish No. 1 in the U.S. this weekend. If it holds, that would easily be the worst first weekend outing for Marvel’s First Family, as the previous two FF flicks each managed to top $55 million in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

RELATED: Our Review of Fantastic Four

How bad is that? It didn’t challenge the worst opening weekend for a film starring a Marvel super hero ever — that dubious distinction is held by Punisher: War Zone and its insanely low $4.3 million opening — but it’s in some pretty poor company. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance limped to just $22.1 million three years ago, but Fantastic Four is the worst super hero debut of any kind since then. Fox has had a worse Marvel premiere with the forgettable and regrettable Elektra solo movie a decade ago, yet even bringing that film up in conversation drives home how disappointing this has been.

Any hope that the overseas take would prove to be some consolation was also dashed, as Deadline reports that Fantastic Four earned $34.1 million in international markets. That was about half what the global leader, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, brought in during its second weekend.

Put bluntly, this is a disaster for Fox, one that calls into question whether or not proceeding with the planned sequel in 2017 is a good idea. Expect to see some finger-pointing about what led to this sorry state of affairs in the weeks to come, as well as the inevitable doom and gloom articles from the mainstream media about how this could be the first sign of super hero movie fatigue. Let us offer an apology to some of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s greatest creations. You certainly deserve better.

(Historical box office data via Box Office Mojo)

Next: Fantastic Four Director Josh Trank Deflects Blame for Bad Reviews

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