There has been a lot of discussion about The Fantastic Four: First Steps' box office performance. The Marvel Studios film had a lot riding on its shoulders for multiple reasons. For one, it's coming off the back of a number of underperformances for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as both Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* didn't break even during their theatrical runs. And then, there's the fact that the Fantastic Four are pretty well-established heroes in and of themselves with mainstream audiences and this is one of the MCU's buzziest releases in some time.
Although the film did struggle after its exceptional opening weekend performance, Marvel Studios is reportedly happy with its performance, with plans for a sequel after 2028 still seemingly on the horizon. First Steps will ultimately turn a profit and, with these characters front and center in next year's Avengers: Doomsday, there are plenty of reasons to be excited for Marvel's First Family.
And honestly, it's hard to call the film an underperformer when it continues to fly past major movie after major movie on a weekly basis. Now, it has done it all again.
Fantastic Four: First Steps has now grossed more than Toy Story 2
As The Fantastic Four: First Steps crosses the half-billion mark the box office, it continues to surpass game-changing movies' domestic or global grosses. The most recent film that it has now overtaken is none other than the legendary Toy Story 2, which made $511 million at the worldwide box office during its theatrical run. First Steps now sits at $517 million after almost two months in theaters.
Released in 1999, Toy Story 2 became a major success story, thrilling audiences around the world and endearing them all at the same time. It made its half-billion gross on a budget of $90 million and sits in a rare class of its own as one of the few sequels considered even better than their well-regarded predecessors. Another one, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, sits just ahead of Fantastic Four at around $520 million, so it will be interesting to see if Marvel's First Family can overtake that one.
Of course, the cases of Toy Story 2 and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are very different in terms of overall success. The former, with a budget of $90 million, would have made Disney more money than the latter, which had a budget of $200+ million. There was also less pressure on Toy Story 2 to succeed than on The Fantastic Four, which is a movie a decade in the making releasing at a time when the two previous MCU movies underperformed. So, yes, audiences still expected better from First Steps, but we shouldn't discount the fact that it got there in the end... and that it's continuing to surpass some major success stories on a weekly basis.
Two weeks ago, the film overtook Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Incredibles at the domestic box office (although both films will remain ahead of it on the global front) so surpassing a film as larger-than-life on the worldwide front is very impressive. Toy Story 2 is considered one of the greatest movies of all time, so the fact that First Steps overtook it towards the end of its run is not small feat.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is still in theaters.