How high will “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” fly in its second weekend at the box office?
That’s the lingering question after Disney’s comic book adventure captured a healthy $117.6 million in its debut. Any superhero tentpole can start strong; this one needs momentum to qualify as a hit for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In its sophomore outing, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is aiming for $45 million to $52 million, a roughly 55% to 60% decline. That’s a slightly bigger dip than “Superman,” which dropped by 53% in its second weekend after launching to $125 million earlier in July.
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” was the final major blockbuster of the summer’s movie season, though Hollywood is hoping that several August releases have the potential to become sleeper hits. Two of the breakout hopefuls include Paramount’s slapstick action-comedy “The Naked Gun” and Neon’s body-horror nightmare “Together,” both of which open this weekend.
“The Naked Gun” is targeting a debut of $15 million to $17 million from 3,300 venues, a decent figure given that theatrical comedies are virtually extinct. Liam Neeson stars in the movie as Frank Drebin Jr., a police officer who follows in the footsteps of his bumbling father (detective Frank Drebin, portrayed in prior “Naked Gun” installments by the late and legendary Leslie Nielsen) to solve a wacky murder case. Akiva Schaffer, best known for the Lonely Island, directed the film, which co-stars Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser and Danny Huston.
The reboot, which boasts a lean 85-minute runtime, cost $42 million to produce. Paramount had attempted for years to revive the “Naked Gun” series, which began as a television show and continued with a trio of films, 1988’s “The Naked Gun: From the Files of a Police Squad,” 1991’s “The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear” and 1994’s “Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult.” All three movies were financial successes, but that was back in the days when audiences routinely went to the movies to watch funny films. “The Naked Gun” is the rare comedy that’s playing in theaters and not landing directly on a streaming service, where viewership data isn’t uniformly reported.
“The Naked Gun” is likely the final theatrical release under Brian Robbins, who led Paramount Pictures since 2021 and served as co-CEO since 2024. He’s expected to leave the company following its sale to Skydance, which was cleared last week and is anticipated to close in early August.
“Together,” which launches on Wednesday, is aiming for $7.5 million to $10 million over the five days. So far the film has earned $1.3 million from Tuesday previews and early access screenings. Dave Franco and Alison Brie star as a co-dependent couple who become nightmarishly close after a mysterious force causes horrific body changes. Putting a meta spin on “Together,” Franco and Brie are married in real life. The film sits at a rare 99% average on Rotten Tomatoes, with Variety’s Owen Gleiberman describing “Together” as a crowd-pleaser. “Audiences should have fun with ‘Together,’ a body-horror movie about a serious thing — love — that never takes itself too seriously,” he wrote in his review.
Those reviews — and the potential for great word-of-mouth — are likely the reason that Neon spent a lavish $17 million to buy the movie at Sundance, marking one of the richest deals in the festival’s history. The studio has been leaning into off-beat marketing tactics to promote “Together,” such as offering free couple’s therapy for partners who leave the theater feeling traumatized.
Also new to theaters is Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s family friendly “The Bad Guys 2,” which is projected to earn $20 million to $25 million from 3,700 theaters. That’s about even with the first animated adventure, which collected $23 million in its debut in 2022 when cinemas were greatly struggling to recover from COVID. “The Bad Guys,” a heist comedy about a crackerjack group of animal outlaws, ended up earning $250 million globally.
“The Bad Guys 2,” again featuring the voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson and dozens of others, carries an $80 million price tag. In the sequel sees the reformed baddies emerging from retirement to perform one last heist.
Overall the box office is 12% ahead of last year but nearly 24% behind 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, according to Comscore. Revenues stand at $2.86 billion from May through late July, and analysts believe this could be the second summer in post-COVID times to cross the $4 billion milestone.
“August is going to bring the heat with most diverse lineup of films from every genre,” says senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
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