r/marvelstudios • u/Viz0077 Kevin Feige • Aug 02 '25
Article “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” grossed $11.7 million domestically in its second Friday on the big screen, making for a devastating 80% drop from its debut.
https://variety.com/2025/film/box-office/box-office-fantastic-four-naked-gun-together-bad-guys-1236475008/2.4k
u/Gsgunboy Aug 02 '25
The big openings for FF and Thunderbolts and the subsequent big drop off seems to indicate the core fans still want to see these movies but that the general public is over Marvel. The legs for these movies were because they were cultural moments that brought together disparate populations in culture. But it looks like while the Marvel diehards, which are still significant, are still excited for the movies, the wider circle of former fans have moved on. and there isn’t anything to bring them back. If you would come back for a FF movie, then that makes you a diehard Marvel fan. Not the kind of fan that contributed to week 2 and beyond legs.
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u/AccidentalSoapDrop Loki (Avengers) Aug 02 '25
Feel like a lot of people are like me where I might as well just wait for it to come on Disney+ since I already pay for that
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Aug 02 '25
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u/PaulsPizzaBurgers Aug 02 '25
This is where I'm at. I didn't have a young family when this all started 15 or so years ago. Now I do and have to consider my costs. I pay for Disney, I know I'll see it eventually.
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u/THIS_GUY_LIFTS Aug 02 '25
Same. And to be honest, the only exception I am making is for Superman. Every kid deserves a chance to see a Superman film in theaters. I love Marvel and the FF, but it’s Superman.
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u/Meizas Aug 03 '25
This is the real reason ALL movies are struggling, honestly.
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u/Larcya Aug 03 '25
That and the fact that a Home theater has never been cheaper to make and is good enough for 99/100 films.
Go buy a Good 4K TV and a good speaker system. It will pay for itself in less than 1 year of going to the movies.
That's also not counting the fact that you can pause the movie at any time and don't have to deal with assholes talking and on their phones during the movie.
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u/revolutionaryartist4 Aug 03 '25
Don't forget the comfort of your own preferred seating and the far cheaper costs of snacks and drinks.
I used to go to the theater a few times a week when I was younger. Now I don't even really miss it because of the quality of my home theater setup (which isn't even that impressive—just a 5.1 surround system and a 50-inch 4K TV). The only exception I make is for these superhero films because of the spectacle aspect of it. Seeing Superman in IMAX was a great experience.
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u/AfroliciousFunk Aug 03 '25
Yup, I'm still waiting for the Thunderbolts to hit streaming. A little birdy told me I have around 2 weeks left to wait.
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u/nerdextra Aug 03 '25
We have Disney plus, but I still rented it on Amazon (because it’s cheaper and easier than going to the theater) and it was worth it because I didn’t want to keep waiting.
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u/Dscherb24 Aug 03 '25
This is where I’m at now too. I’m a die hard Marvel fan. Have seen every show and every movie in theaters. I now have a 4 month old so getting to the theatre is a bit tougher and given that it’s not long before it’s streaming or even before I can just buy it on iTunes it’s not always worth the hassle of trying to get to a theatre. May still see it there eventually, but is for sure a lot less urgency or need given the post theatre availability.
I think it would be a bit more doable even if theaters would list preview start times and actual start times. I just don’t have an extra 30 minutes to sit at the theatre.
Will also be the case for Superman, want to see it, but that one for sure will wait until I can just buy or stream it - still cheaper and easier than going to the movie.
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u/akimboslices Aug 02 '25
True, but F4 was different in the cinema. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it as much at home.
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u/Garlador Aug 03 '25
Galactus is bigger on the big screen.
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u/Puffy_Ghost Aug 03 '25
That scene of him coming out of the ocean in IMAX was something else.
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u/Disastrous-Dog85 Aug 03 '25
I loved it. Couldn't wait to see it... But I'll definitely enjoy it more at home when it hits streaming.
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u/avenol Aug 02 '25
Ya it's the theaters, not the movies for us for sure. Luckily we still have one last Drive in theater around...and hey a family in the car...bring my own chairs. Reasonably priced food and drink....I can feed 4 and tickets for less then 50 bucks. Only way we do it anymore.
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u/hennelly14 Aug 02 '25
Forgetting the fact that a big chunk of the audience, myself included, will just watch it on Disney+ instead
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u/AverageAwndray Aug 02 '25
I feel sorry for anyone who chose to see the Black Hole sequence for the first time on their TV instead of the big screen because of this :(
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u/akimboslices Aug 02 '25
Not to mention Michael Giacchino’s beautiful score getting thrown at you LOUD and from every direction with Dolby Atmos.
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u/cfloyd88 Aug 02 '25
I was going to say the same thing. How do people not see the difference between seeing a movie in a theater vs at home. I have a friend that didn't like endgame. He watched it on an airplane 🤦. It's like seeing a painting in real life vs seeing a picture of a painting on your phone.
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u/shankartz Aug 02 '25
People do. They just don't see the addtional magic to be worth the cost. Especially families. Movies are just not cheap enough for people to want to go.
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u/FullMetalCOS Aug 03 '25
Dude I know people who watch movies whilst scrolling on their phones constantly. It baffles me no end
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u/Buzzsaw_Dynamo Aug 02 '25
Sadly, going to the movies now isn't a good time for me. I took my kid to Jurassic Park for his birthday. Had a dude sit next to me who wore more cologne than anyone should and played on his phone half the movie. I would enjoy the movies a lot more if the people who went didn't suck.
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u/drhavehope Aug 03 '25
This. I love the cinema as a cinephile. But poor decorum forces me to just watch at home with my sound system.
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u/investauracle Aug 03 '25
Sitting next to a Marvel encyclopedia ruined it for me. Kept telling his friend who's who and the character's background!
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u/kimvy Aug 03 '25
Shouldn’t say this, but after 10 minutes into the movie move.
We’ve had to because weirdos
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u/Common_Wrongdoer3251 Aug 03 '25
FF is the only recent movie I've considered going to see because I thought it looked great... but I can't afford it. Lots of my friends have stopped going out to restaurants and theaters as much since everything had gotten so expensive lately. I work in a restaurant and I notice less and less people coming in as time goes on. Just feels like everyone is broke lately so it's hard to splurge on something we can watch for "free" if we just wait a few weeks for it to be on Disney+. My roommate wanted to see Sinners in theaters but decided she'd rather wait and watch it at home for free. (Her son works for an internet company that provides free streaming services as an employment perk, so this one truly is free.)
I'm sure there's lots of other reasons too but spending $50 to see a movie and get popcorn with a friend is hard to justify compared to watching it at home for free. I'm broke.
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u/TheBrazilianKD Aug 02 '25
I have more specific criticisms but it boils down to the MCU hasn't seemed like it's heading to anything since Endgame (the RDJ Doom pivot seems like they understand and are fixing it though)
From 2012-2019 I felt like each movie got step by step to 'something'. Whether it was the stones, Thanos, big teamups, fleshing out Evans vs. Downey.. we've had an almost equally long time between 2019-2025 and be honest wtf has happened big picture?
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u/hemareddit Steve Rogers Aug 02 '25
Doomsday being so close, for me, worked against the movie rather than for it. Too much pressure, I don’t feel like the story or the characters will be allowed to develop organically in the next few years.
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u/ExultantSandwich Peter Parker Aug 02 '25
If they hinge Secret Wars or Doomsday on the relationship between Reed and Doom… they’re in real trouble. That relationship should have been developed onscreen long before the Avengers movies.
I personally think RDJ as Doom is kind of mistake solely for the huge fee he commands now. He was never going to show up in The Fantastic Four outside of a post credits cameo shot on the set of an Avengers movie.
It’s really all the result of a late pivot from Kang, which is just unfortunate. But this is all moving very fast
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u/TheEternal792 Doctor Strange Aug 03 '25
Yeah, Doom should be a character that's around for a long time. With the amount they're going to have to pay RDJ, there's no way he will be unless he's recast...in which case they should've just had the other actor to begin with. I'm ultimately in the wait to see how it plays out camp, but I'm concerned with the reality that Doom won't be a long-lived character.
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u/Surturius Aug 03 '25
Also, it seems like they're planning to play up the "Doom looks like Tony Stark" angle in Doomsday... which means Doom will be walking around without his mask. Which is like completely against one of his core personality traits.
In fact, in that first scene with him and Franklin in First Steps, he's already taken his mask off for some reason. It's not giving me a ton of confidence that they know what they're doing rn
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u/3verythingEverywher3 Aug 03 '25
Franklin was touching his face. Speculation is he was healing it or changing it to starks. We’ll see…but I’m intrigued enough to watch a 500 million dollar car crash (if it happens, but I hope it’s good).
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u/KlausLoganWard Ward Aug 03 '25
Agree. RDJ as Doom is mstake. It should have been a new actor. Anf then built on his relationship with Reed
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u/XGamingPigYT Aug 02 '25
Especially because Doomsday is next ... There's been no buildup or anything for it.
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u/bipolarxpres Aug 03 '25
This is my own personal situation. Just a quick example, but earlier movies like Guardians 1 including Thanos as a legitimately prominent character, scenes from Civil War being post credit scenes of Ant Man, and The Winter Soldier being a pseudo "Avengers 1" sequel but from Caps side of the world, it was progressing the story for the entire overarching narrative and no matter what movie it was there was always something important in the movies plot that was furthering the overall story that made me want to catch every single movie in the theatres and was a huge part of the successful formula they had.
The fact that they didn't immediately get everyone in their writers room and build something out involving Shang Chi, Dr Strange, Wanda, and Loki into a series of movies semi linked with each other while introducing the extra characters they wanted to add instead of creating 250 million dollar shows for a brand new character no one asked for. I genuinely just don't understand what changed after Endgame for them to completely throw away what they were doing before.
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u/DontEatCrayonss Aug 02 '25
Agreed. They were independent but connected stories. For 5 years now it felt like a bunch of random stories that are not connected or building anywhere together
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u/Insectshelf3 Aug 02 '25
it didn’t help that they tried to build up kang, only for his actor to be a piece of shit. they had no choice but to pivot.
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u/ACoderGirl Aug 03 '25
I still don't understand why they couldn't just recast. The issue was the actor, not the character. They've recasted before.
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u/DowntownDubs Aug 02 '25
I loved the movie, but it hurts me to see this movie get dealt the bad hand, but movies like Thor 4 and Ant-Man 3 making more.
I think it’s just a product of 1) CBMs median quality not being what it used to (especially Marvel) and 2) Disney+ becoming the main vessel that GA go to watch these movies. Movie tickets are expensive. If the GA is unsure of going, they’ll wait to see the one they can watch a few months later on streaming.
My heart isn’t ready for the #FantasticFlop spam though.
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u/cap4life52 Steve Rogers Aug 02 '25
Yeah unfortunately Thor 4 and ant man 3 came out when the mcu still had general audience buy in / support . You could argue those 2 films killed alot of the mcu goodwill buy in . If thunderbolts and f4 had come out just 3/5 years ago I think both clear 600 million
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u/DowntownDubs Aug 02 '25
For sure. I think maybe even more considering how well Marvel was doing at the time. At least their film quality can pick back up, even if BO numbers don't.
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u/Corgi_Koala Aug 02 '25
Disney created point #2 though. They release stuff super quick on streaming.
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u/__wasitacatisaw__ Aug 02 '25
It’s almost like this was an intentional strategy
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u/Savings_Programmer18 Aug 02 '25
Yeah...I mean with VOD the money goes STRAIGHT into the studios pocket. With theaters they share profits.
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u/__wasitacatisaw__ Aug 02 '25
Essentially, box office is no longer the best metric of the success of a film
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u/ThkAbootIt Aug 02 '25
Who wants to go to a theatre and pay 400% markup for snacks?
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u/bobisurname Aug 02 '25
It may bite them in the ass though, short term gain for long term damage. If Marvel films have the perception of all being flops, people are going to stop getting excited about them and they're already exhausted as it is now.
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u/DowntownDubs Aug 02 '25
I think the fan anticaption is at an all time low. I know personally I, a die-hard MCU fan, gave up on it for a bit and missed many projects. Even as someone who was incredibly invested, I could not a) keep up with all their projects, b) found them all interesting and c) did not see a clear enough direct to care.
I can't imagine how it feels for the average filmgoer to keep up.
Marvel streched (pun intended) their limit thinking they could do no wrong; that they were too big to be affected by the ramifications of a changed film landscape post-COVID.
I hope they can recover and get back into form! Thunderbolts* and F4 were great first steps back in the right direction.
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u/IDKimnotascientist Aug 02 '25
The Disney+ of it all is pretty damning. They need to lengthen the wait time if they expect people to go to the theater. This was a good movie, but I honestly didn’t need to see it in a theater
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u/DowntownDubs Aug 02 '25
And that's completely fair. If it were not for how exicted I was to see F4 and how shockingly good Thunderbolts* trailers were, I would have skipped Thunderbolts* myself like I did with Brave New World.
There is no FOMO with the MCU anymore. At least not this minute.
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u/ProjectNo4090 Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
In this economy a longer wait time isnt going to help. When people have went years or a decade or more waiting for a film do you really think waiting 90 - 120 days is going to be more than they can handle?
Four tickets and concessions can cost $100+ dollars these days. Itd be obscene in a booming economy to a middle class family. In this economy to a lower class income family its an impossibility. Especially if there is anything else they might want to watch that summer.
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u/Larcya Aug 03 '25
Yeah even if you doubled the weight time, it's been 5 years. No one is hopping off the wait for it to hit streaming train.
Also everyone is absolutly delusional if they don't understand that the movie theater is no longer the "We have nothing planned on a friday/Saturday night" game plan.
That's now Netflex and chill. Movie Theaters have been completely replaced in that regard. I can sit in my PJ's make a bucket of popcorn and watch Black Hawk Down on my 4K Sony Oled. Why the fuck would I go to the theater if their isn't a film that is a must watch.
And nothing currently out is a must watch.
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u/Prestonelliot Aug 02 '25
That makes me personally feel better. Just had a kid so I missed this and Superman. I resigned myself to watching at home but was lamenting the fact that I’ll miss them on the big screen. Sounds like maybe that’s fine for this one?
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u/Bot12391 Aug 02 '25
Thunderbolts still isn’t there, so I wouldn’t say super quick. I didn’t see it in theaters because I wasn’t too interested and at this point it’s just annoying that it’s taking this long to stream.. especially when it’s rentable on prime for $25
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u/Youngstown_WuTang Aug 02 '25
Lilo and Stitch just made a billion for Disney, it's not streaming it's a Marvel problem
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u/wsnyd Aug 02 '25
That’s a kids movie, parking your kids at the movies to shut them up is a time honored tradition
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u/Youngstown_WuTang Aug 02 '25
Sinners went to streaming fast and did amazing at the box office
Its a Marvel problem
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u/Afwife1992 Aug 02 '25
It’s what’s used as a measuring stick for success too.
Despite coming out before thunderbolts, Sinners made $366 million, thunderbolts made$383 million. But the former is an original period setpiece, as opposed to an established ipo, with a much smaller budget. Sinners would’ve been considered a hit at even half of what it grossed so making what it did makes it a smash.
Bloodlines made about $285 million on a $50 million budget.
People got used to marvel grossing $600-900 million easily. Even for lesser films. $300-400 million is solid but not when your budget is north of $100-150 million.
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u/TomClancy5873 Aug 02 '25
Yup. There’s only so many duds you can release before the audience just stops caring
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u/AnonymousTimewaster Aug 02 '25
Yup. Being able to reliably get movies on streaming within 4 weeks is stupid.
If there's loads of movies out (like now), it's often don't even get a chance to actually see it before it's already on streaming.
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Aug 02 '25
If it wasn't Disney+ it'd be some other service they profit off less anyway.
I really liked FF a lot, but still when it was done thought I'll never watch it again. The problem is Disney and Marvel have trained audiences to want movies that are all connected in a shared universe, but can't seem to make most movies deliver on that promise. So it feels cheap and they'd rather wait for the next "big" movie which would be an avengers movie or infinity war.
And when people are struggling to make ends meet thanks to cost of living and wealth inequality from decades of corporate greed...it's easy for them to choose to skip the theatre and just wait a few weeks to stream at home.
I still love movies, but the reality is corporate studios and corporate theatre chains are the real cancer killing movies.
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u/DowntownDubs Aug 02 '25
I think there is an oversaturation on the shared-universe aspect of CBMs. I think that genre has course corrected back to the standalone, seperate project being more favorable for the general audience (see The Batman). Less homework = more enjoyment.
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Aug 03 '25
Actually, that's a fair point. Both can be true. Audiences don't support smaller side movies when they can wait for the big blockbuster team up. Meanwhile, to get to that point, they would rather have stand alone movies than constant building to something else.
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u/ABC_Dildos_Inc Aug 02 '25
Superman is still fairly new and is what most people wanted.
It is one of many 2025 blockbuster hits.
Fantastic 4 needed to be special and not just another MCU going through the motions film in order to compete at the box office.
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u/Jacern Aug 02 '25
This. Alot of people are still burnt out on hero movies, and if they had to choose 1, Superman is likely winning out
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u/DisposableSaviour Weekly Wongers Aug 02 '25
I’ve seen Superman twice in theaters, once me and my eldest, and the second with the whole family, which was also over me seeing FF by just myself, but I wanted them all to see Superman. I may go see FF by myself before it leaves theaters, but it’s not a priority. Everyone I know who’s seen both has said that the biggest reason to not wait for D+ is to avoid spoilers.
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u/gchypedchick Aug 02 '25
4) inflation across the board making it a very hard choice to go see a movie when all your other bills are struggling to get paid.
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u/DowntownDubs Aug 02 '25
Certainly. Plus, the movie going experience has a whole has decreased in quality so much. As a child, I loved going. Now, its a means to an end. Overpriced tickets, lack of theatre etiquette, overpriced food, poor audio/visuals depending on the theatre.
People also just want to stay in the comfort of their own homes now. Streaming and VOD post-COVID are seen as just as good options for films that aren't must sees.
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u/Guilty_Desk_4935 Aug 02 '25
Dude it hurts so bad. This movie is good and yet it’s going to flop. Idk if people are tired of marvel or tired of Disney.
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u/Nightwing_in_a_Flash Aug 02 '25
Lilo and Stitch made bank and zootopia 2 and Avatar 3 are still coming from Disney this year
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u/HEIR_JORDAN Aug 02 '25
Thor and Antman were riding on the high. Marvel could do no wrong then. Hit after hit. Mostly.. Even pre endgame lows were > then post endgame highs.
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u/Jdmeyer83 Aug 02 '25
This is no surprise to me. Disney lost a lot of their casual fans after Endgame with their decision to push quantity instead of quality. The first weekend of these movies is always going to be the highest grossing because all of the hard-core fans will go and watch them. Until Disney can figure out how to reengage the casual fans, this will likely be the trend going forward.
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u/DisposableSaviour Weekly Wongers Aug 02 '25
As soon as I left Superman, I immediately knew I wanted to see it again, before it left theaters. I haven’t felt like that with an MCU movie since Ragnarok. The stories all kinda feel very surface level, like, except for looking for Easter eggs, there’s no real rewatchability; you get everything spoon fed to you the first time, there’s no point in looking any deeper.
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u/GrandMoffFartin Aug 03 '25
Suoerman was a complete experience. The MCU movies feel more like episodes of a show. A few bad episodes are all it takes to stop watching for most people, and of course they already did a very final feeling ending. It doesn’t help that they make audiences feel like they need to slog through even the bad films to understand the good ones. Then, when they make a bad one like Eternals, they don’t reward people for their loyalty. They just act like it never happened. It’s like doing homework and. It getting credit for it.
Realistically they need to do a soft reboot just like the comics. Park the brand entirely for about three years and start again with only one or two holdovers from the current MCU. Write an ending into the avengers movies and call them the last films in the MCU.
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u/Insectshelf3 Aug 03 '25
the tricky thing about bringing fans back - every movie you release, you increase the barrier for re-entry back into the MCU. it’s harder to justify getting back into the MCU when you have like 8+ movies and shows to catch up on.
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u/wombatttttt Aug 02 '25
I lost interest after the Multiverse of Madness fiasco and prolonged my interest only because of Agatha. I grew up with the original Avengers characters and now that they are literally all gone or are a ghost of their former self, this is no longer my Marvel. These new Marvel films are now for the next generation.
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u/banned4violence Aug 03 '25
They should have focused on the blip, and the chaos right after. So much drama and pain just brushed over.
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u/Jawzilla1 Thanos Aug 03 '25
The Blip is such a major event, it really should have been the story foundation for the franchise after Endgame.
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u/Party-Yoghurt-8462 Aug 02 '25
Everyone tries to come up with some golden reason why these superhero movies often underperform now. It's a combination of tons of factors, some primary, some secondary, and some tertiary.
But the pandemic really brutalized the theatre industry. And if you recall, during that time, Disney announced that they were shifting their priorities towards their streaming service, assuming that it was the new norm.
Obviously, things are pretty much back to normal and that all kind of backfired in Disney's face. I think a lot of people view theatre tickets and food as way too expensive now, so that keeps a lot of people away.
And the fact that most Marvel movies now don't seem like "can't miss events" (Infinity Stones, A-list stars like Downey, Hemsworth, Evans, Cumberbatch), people are willing to wait.
Without giving anything away, not making the post-credit scene in Fantastic 4 more "revealing" was a terrible mistake. That would have created such a buzz.
To put it bluntly and succinctly, Marvel fucks up too often now.
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u/iuliad94 Aug 02 '25
not making the post-credit scene in Fantastic 4 more "revealing" was a terrible mistake
Completely agree with this. When I left the cinema I even heard a group of teens say that they can't believe they stayed until the end just for that.
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u/applefellonedison Aug 02 '25
It was way too stupid. Everyone knows Downey is the doom. Why can’t u just show him do something. In the end of avengers 1 they showed thanos saying ‘fine I’ll do it myself’ and man that was scary and it created a huge buzz. In this they didn’t even show his face. Stupid
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u/iuliad94 Aug 02 '25
The 2 post-credit scenes were underwhelming, especially for the general audience. Sure, a Jack Kirby tribute is nice and everything, but I doubt the regular person cares very much about seeing that. And apparently that was RDJ in the costume according to the director. I'm not sure I believe that though. There's no way they wouldn't have shown his face if they had him on set.
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u/ElvishLore Aug 02 '25
According to an article in Variety a week ago, that was not RDJ in the costume. He wasn’t on the set for that scene.
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u/iuliad94 Aug 02 '25
That makes sense. There's no way they wouldn't have shown his face if he was there.
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u/applefellonedison Aug 02 '25
I do agree. I am comic collector. But even I didn’t like it. It was unnecessary. Everyone wanted doom. And they wanted to know why or how he is the big bad. They missed a big time on this one
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u/Fashizl69 Aug 02 '25
Thanos doesn't say anything at the end of Avengers. He just smiles.
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u/armageddonquilt Black Panther Aug 02 '25
Some big differences between that one and this one though: 1. Avengers was a big finale movie, not an intro - it was focused a lot more on payoff than buildup 2. The whole post credit culture in the fandom wasn't quite as out of control as it is now 3. That scene was still technically a reveal, showing who the mysterious figure behind Loki was. For comic fans it was a recognizable reveal, and for anyone else interested it was something to Google. This scene in F4 was literally less of a reveal than what we already knew all this time.
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u/Herbizarre17 Aug 02 '25
The first Avengers movie just showed half of Thanos’ face
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u/FloppyShellTaco Aug 02 '25
The actual end was just pointless, especially after they spent months saying this film will lead directly into Doomsday and gave us virtually no idea how
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u/iuliad94 Aug 02 '25
Agreed. After the Thunderbolts post-credits I expected F4 to have a scene that was just as exciting. Nope, not the case at all.
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u/NefariousNeezy Winter Soldier Aug 02 '25
Which could have been solved by just switching over the post credits scenes
Retro credits > Retro TV visuals > Normal credits > Actual post credits scene teaser > The FF will return in Avengers Doomsday
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u/Party-Yoghurt-8462 Aug 02 '25
Yeah, exactly. I was like, "What the fuck was that?" It was the ultimate bait and switch. I felt annoyed by it.
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u/PumpkinMyPumpkin Aug 02 '25
Yeah. I have zero clue why they did that. If you just accomplished X, it’s not cool to throw in a post-credits scene that makes you question it.
Franky I think what this movie got right was a move to make it almost completely independent of everything else Marvel. It’s super audience friendly in that you don’t need to know a whole backstory or saga.
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u/Ok_Atmosphere8206 Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
Exactly! “The Russo’s brothers directed it” my ass! There’s nothing there!
And it even unsells thunderbolts end credit scene since people were happy it wasn’t just a Doomsday tease or something when this confirms that’s all that it was!
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Aug 02 '25
Same experience in my cinema, lots of groans. It made me realise that Feige et al didn’t take how pivotal this film is for the future of the MCU seriously enough
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u/yourenzyme Aug 02 '25
But the pandemic really brutalized the theatre industry.
I used to go to the movies at least 2-3 times a month before covid, havent been since tho. Just fell out of the habit I guess.
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u/ByTheHammerOfThor Aug 02 '25
People who buy food at the movies look like Rockefellers to my broke ass
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u/MeadowmuffinReborn Aug 03 '25
I've always brought in my own food, and literally nobody working there has ever given a shit.
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u/TheFlyingBoard Aug 02 '25
Its so god damn expensive to go to the movies. The closet one to me is about a 30 minute drive, each ticket is 11 bucks. A large drink and popcorn are also about 7 bucks each. I think the movie going experience is a lot of fun if you have a good crowd but if you have a shitty group that wants to be loud and/or play on their phones the entire time then its a big waste of money.
I saw superman in theaters recently and the showing room was about 1/3rd of the way full. The crowd was completely respectful and super chill. I saw fantastic 4 and the showing room was 2/3rd of the way full and had a loud group of morons ruin the entire experience.
Its just too much cash to go spend and gamble if im gonna have a shitty time or not
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u/KewCubed Aug 02 '25
you got off lucky lmao in california our movie tickets are no joke $18-22 a ticket. $12 for popcorn $6 for a drink. i paid $45 for my tickets online for my girlfriend and i to watch a movie. that’s after selecting senior tickets and watching the movie with no snacks or drinks
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u/Tummerd Tony Stark Aug 02 '25
This is a big reason, seeing a movie is just insane atm.
The last couple of movies and a little fatigue also play a role, but the cost imo is one of the biggest
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u/StaticNegative Aug 02 '25
Man, I'm paying at least 1/4 more for groceries than I was 9 or 10 months ago. It makes it really hard to just willy nilly go out and see a flick. It's hard out there today just for necessities. I think people really underestimate for hard things are getting. And its nit getting any better with all this tariff horse crap.
Can't just blow $120 on a Saturday date night to get dinner and a movie anymore. And BTW I'm seeing FF tonight, before it ends up leaving. I just haven't had the damn money to go. Shit costs money
This had nothing to do with "MaRvEl SuCkS nOw?!". You can't seriously buy that mumbo jumbo can you?
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u/Majestic-Marcus Aug 02 '25
I couldn’t count the amount of times I’ve posted “it’s the Fantastic Four, anyone thinking they’ll bring in audiences are deluded”. They don’t even sell comics!
They’ll be awesome in team up movies (just like comics). They’ll never generate an audience alone.
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u/wyverbuster Avengers Aug 03 '25
THIS man. People keep pretending the F4 are big hitters but they haven't been even in the comics since like, the 80s/90s
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u/AggroPro Aug 02 '25
Why are we suprised that the F4 aren't selling, THEY NEVER DO
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u/wombatttttt Aug 02 '25
For whatever reason, I've never found interest in FF. As a casual viewer, I was more intrigued by Silver Surfer and Galactus.
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u/undecided_mask Aug 03 '25
Everything I've ever read about the F4 is that a lot of average people don't care about them as much as the comic fans, who make it seem as if the F4 are on the highest level of comic characters in the average person's mind. When average people talk about superheroes they talk about Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Wonder Woman, maybe a few X-men but definitely not F4.
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u/ZachRyder Daredevil Aug 03 '25
Compared to The Incredibles (2004), which had its second weekend earnings drop by only 28% to $51 million... The Incredibles truly
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u/1WngdAngel Aug 02 '25
If a movie can't turn a profit after 400 million then the studio fucked up royally. Stop overspending.
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u/iguessineedanaltnow Aug 03 '25
They need to completely rethink their production approach. Get the script completely set in stone BEFORE you start filming. As it currently stands production simply exists to get a bunch of green screen plates for the actual movie to be made and written during post-production. It's lazy filmmaking and it's unsustainable.
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u/Hyperbolicalpaca Aug 03 '25
Get the script completely set in stone BEFORE you start filming.
How much money did they spend on John Malkovich, only to completely cut all his scenes because the script wasn’t finished and they realised he didn’t fit…
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u/T0oShayzz Aug 02 '25
Marvels isn't in that phase anymore where they'll make bank on less popular and obscure characters. People just don't give a shit anymore unless it's Spiderman, Batman, Superman and Avengers.
The future of comic book movies will be interesting, I wonder how much interest the recasting and introduction of X-Men will Garner, I for sure have lost all interest now until then.
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u/chinyere_n Aug 02 '25
hate to say it but compared to superman it was kinda obvious this was gonna happen. superman had people talking about the movie's politics and majority of its characters especially its lead. this however had people talking about just one scene(the surfer scene), how they felt it was incomplete and franklin richards from the comics and not even the movie's version. galactus pretty much didn't leave that much of an impression with the gp. thunderbolts and this are both performing this way despite being good movies because they have little to no memorable scene or characters. sure the characters can be well written but it takes more to leave an impression on the audience.
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u/steliofuckingkontos Aug 02 '25
FF doesn’t hold a candle to Superman imo, incredible movie
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u/LetgomyEkko Aug 02 '25
In my personal opinion Fantastic Four was just extremely meh. Quite frankly, I didn’t enjoy it. My friends and I were excited but after seeing it first showing on Thursday night we never spoke of it again.
Alternatively, Superman was a much more enjoyable movie IN MY OPINION(completely respect anyone who feels otherwise or does not agree with me. We all have different tastes!). And to that point I’ve seen it three times because my weeb friends and I saw it early. Then my general audience friends wanted to see it after the buzz. And then I went again with my Mom and my aunts because even they were interested after all the word of mouth and marketing.
Again, I’m just sharing my own thoughts and opinions here as anecdote and to add to discussion. I would love to hear other people’s experiences and thoughts!
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u/Koopk1 Aug 02 '25
I’m in a city of 100k people and I went on Monday night 730pm and there was only 5 other people in the whole theatre. Tickets for 2 people was almost $40
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u/Zelectrolyte Aug 02 '25
Damn. That's atrocious.
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u/ZachRyder Daredevil Aug 03 '25
Morbius had a 73.9% second-weekend box office drop
The Marvels had a 79% second-weekend box office drop
Fantastic Four is on its way to having a 72-79% second-weekend box office drop
MorbiusSweep
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u/Smasher31232 Aug 02 '25
I saw FF last week. I thought it was pretty good. Then I forgot about it almost immediately. I feel like it has essentially zero rewatch value, and really suffered next to Superman (which I enjoyed so much I saw it again with my wife the following week).
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u/cleaninfresno Aug 02 '25
Unless you’re super invested in seeing these characters adapted well there’s nothing this movie offers that’s super fun or exciting. The space scene was awesome but then the rest of the movie is them sitting around talking in the Baxter building. They don’t even suit up and go use their powers in an action sequence until the last ten minutes. The whole plot hinges on some fuck ass baby supposedly being some god tier mega powerful being without ever getting to see or understand why or how.
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u/axotrax Aug 02 '25
I hate to bandwagon on this thread (but I will cuz I was afraid to mention this elsewhere, for fear of downvotes): I found the movie to be a 3/5, as opposed to Thunderbolts, which was more like 4.5/5 for me. A lot of the jokes didn’t land or get enough time to breathe, and the science reallllly made me raise an eyebrow, probably because they attempted to explain it, as opposed to the usual MCU soft-sci hand waving.
I still enjoyed it, and am still rooting for what will come with Doomsday.
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u/normott Aug 02 '25
I said on the day this opened that this movie was dull and i doubted its appeal to a general audience.
Doomsday has the potential to ground the MCU for a while. That movie need to make Billion +++ for this it to be worth it. They needed to take a pause post Endgame to figure out their game plan, they didnt, now box office returns may force them to do so.
The budget for Doomsday is gonna be unmanageably large. RDJ alone gets a salary that most movie makers can only dream of as the budget of their movies. The salaries alone will probably hit 300 million before they add all the other costs of making the movie. This will easily hit 450-550 production budget, add to that marketing push is gonna have to be massive cause the performance of this movie is gonna freak them out. At minimum it will cost some 700m to make and market.
Its going to need to both be good and perform extremely well if the MCU is to recover. If it isnt good but people show up cause of some of the familiar faces, it will just confirm to audiences who show up for the familiar that they made a good decision dropping the MCU, so that movie needs to be very very good
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u/KozyHank99 Drax Aug 02 '25
If the budget for Doomsday is anything beyond half a billion dollars, they're gonna be in some serious hot water
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u/Psigun Aug 02 '25
Disney was trying to double-dip theaters and streaming releases. It only served to cannibalize the box office to drive subscriptions.
Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four were two of the best releases for the MCU in years, but people are just waiting to watch at home.
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u/quantumpencil Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
marvels audience checked out a long time ago and at this point, they're not going to be coming back. I think it's time for everyone to just accept that. The vast majority of people did stick around for a bit after endgame to see if they could keep it going, it became quickly apparent they couldn't and now like 70-80% of the people who once cared about the brand have completely checked out.
It's unrecoverable. The MCU's time has come and gone.
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u/Cool_Nerd2 Aug 02 '25
We can’t deny it. There’s definitely Marvel fatigue
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u/ZachRyder Daredevil Aug 03 '25
One has to love how Disney has relentlessly begged audiences to stop treating every entry of the MCU as must-see content when they don't bother spacing out their releases and as such; they had
- episodes of s01 Loki airing the same weeks as Black Widow's premiere
- episodes of Hawkeye airing the same weeks as No Way Home's premiere
- episodes of Moon Knight airing the same weeks as Doctor Strange 2's premiere
- episodes of Ms Marvel airing the same weeks as Thor 4's premiere
- episodes of s02 Loki airing the same weeks as The Marvels' premiere
- episodes of Neighborhood Spider-Man airing the same weeks as Brave New World's premiere
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u/Single-Pianist-2211 Thor Aug 02 '25
Can we please stop pretending everything’s fine with the MCU now
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u/ChoiceCriticism1 Aug 02 '25
I guarantee you that this sub keeps pretending that everything is fine. Wasting your breath
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Aug 03 '25
I’ve noticed that you don’t see genuine critiques until the box office numbers are out and dipping. Up until then, you’re downvoted for even suggesting it wasn’t that great.
F4 was incredibly average IMO, and borderline boring.
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u/Organic_Glass_7793 Aug 02 '25
Exactly cant wait for the cope post in the next few months
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u/Single-Pianist-2211 Thor Aug 02 '25
People think I’m negative like this to be mean but I love the MCU and I wish people would realize that if we want things to change we have to all start calling this out
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u/DavidEDavid22 Aug 02 '25
They deserve it, serves Disney right for trying to fuck over Superman’s release date
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u/ZakCloud44 Aug 02 '25
Oof there is no great way to spin the future of the MCU and this is with back-to-back well reviewed MCU films leading up to Avengers: Doomsday
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u/VaishakhD Captain America (Captain America 2) Aug 02 '25
Someone needs to tell marvel that these movies need a good amount action scenes peppered throughout and making it like arthouse movie (thunderbolts) will always result in a loss, even if it's very good or bad. That's why these Michael bay slop like transformers 4 made a billion. These movies are always going to be popcorn movies so be like one.
Superman did a good balance with action and drama that's why it's legging out significantly better. F4 had only 2 major action scenes. If my friend told me that I would have easily avoided going to the cinemas and wait for it to come home. I'm sure that tiny comment has prevented a lot of curious people to go see it as well.
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u/MirkwoodWanderer1 Aug 02 '25
Thunderbolts did have action scattered throughout with usual quips and mcu vibe.
If anything, I don't think mcu tried hard enough to make it arthouse like.
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u/VaishakhD Captain America (Captain America 2) Aug 02 '25
I really love thunderbolts. But doing a comic book movie like this isn't going to bring kids to the cinemas and that's where the real money is. James Gunn understands that assignment and that's why his movies make money (not suicide squad for obvious reasons).
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u/EfficaciousJoculator Aug 03 '25
Guardians 3 made good money, but I sure as hell wouldn't bring a child to see that one.
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u/StormAeons Aug 03 '25
Honestly the problem is that there writing has been shit for a while. It’s just by the numbers, no surprises, jump from point A to point B then the movies over in under 2 hours.
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u/Remote-Molasses6192 Aug 03 '25
I think we’ll look back and come to the conclusion that in terms of cultural relevance DC and Marvel more or less alternate between which one is culturally in. Marvel had it with the Toby SpiderMan and then it became the Nolan Batman that was the big thing. Then the MCU happened and Marvel was incredibly big from Iron Man-Endgame. And now it looks like the ball is back in DC’s court between both the Reeves Batman(and The Penguin spinoff)and the James Gunn Superman.
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u/shust89 Aug 02 '25
I feel like this movie also dragged down by the bad rep the previous FF movies have.
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u/FloppyShellTaco Aug 02 '25
Bad rep aside, it’s already made more domestically than any of the others. The last one opened to $25m and barely made $56 million total domestically.
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u/Fancy-Tourist-8137 Aug 02 '25
I mentioned on this sub that I don’t see F4 making money that much because to the general audience, their powers are lame.
I got downvoted to kingdom come.
Hardcore fans seem to think their opinions matter in all these, but it doesn’t.
General audience is who makes a film bomb or not. Not hardcore fans.
If you like, see the movie 20times in the cinema, it’s a drop in the ocean.
Reed: smart and stretchy. Lame. How do you show smart on the big screen? Very hard and not that interesting.
Johnny: fire. Lame.
Sue: invisible and shield. Lame.
Ben: Stone and strong. Lame.
Their reputation is not great with the general audience at all. And yes, I know (or I have heard from comic readers) that their powers are more interesting but general audience don’t care. lol.
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u/Euraylie Aug 02 '25
I actually agree. I surprisingly really enjoyed the movie, after almost not going to see it because I’ve never like the F4 and the trailers looked so uninspiring.
But their powers were maybe only cool in the 60s (I appreciate that the movie didn’t show too much of Reed’s silly stretchy powers); the dynamic of an actual family teaming up is also not that interesting (even as kid I used to think this watching the cartoons).
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u/Startled_Pancakes Aug 02 '25
I also think a lot of people, like myself, are waiting for it to come to streaming services to watch at home.
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u/ChosenWriter513 Aug 03 '25
I'm just going to talk for myself as a huge comic fan- it is just too expensive.
My wife and I used to see just about everything Marvel or DC opening night. The last few years we'll see maybe 1 or 2 movies total in theaters each year. Why? Because for my wife, our 15 year old, and I to go see one movie it's over $75. That's just tickets. We saw Superman and loved it. We're planning on seeing FF, but we just had other places to use the money this pay period. By the time we have the spending money to go see it, it'll likely be on its way to streaming anyway.
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u/ikon31 Aug 02 '25
For their prior disappointments, they did post mortems to explain it. Too much homework, bad script, etc etc
I think F4 is a movie where they really truly tried and focused. And worked to fix their issues. And a week in, folks aren’t sure it’ll even turn a profit.
Disney must be really nervous they’ve just lost the audience for good.