The Fantastic Four: First Steps may recapture the MCU’s past magic at the box office, if its first-day pre-sales are anything to go by.
It’s fair to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t felt like the same pop culture powerhouse since Endgame, with notable exceptions; everyone was feverishly excited for WandaVision, Spider-Man: No Way Home was enormous, and Deadpool & Wolverine broke all sorts of records.
However, the latter two projects have a not-so-secret weapon: nostalgia. As witnessed by Thunderbolts’ underperformance (even though it’s one of the MCU’s stronger movies of late), it appears that fatigue has set in.
Unless… the Fantastic Four reenergizes the franchise. It’s been a long wait for Marvel’s first family to make their debut, and it’s already set to be one of the moviegoing events of the summer.
Fantastic Four breaks first-day presales record for 2025 movies
According to Fandango, Fantastic Four sold more tickets in its first day than any other movie this year.
That’s a massive feat, considering Lilo and Stitch’s first-day presales were comparable to 2019’s The Lion King (one of the highest-grossing movies of all time) and it’s on track to make over $1 billion.
If Fantastic Four does cross the billion-dollar barrier, it’d be an incredible display of renewed faith from audiences, especially on the lead-up to Avengers: Doomsday at the end of 2026.
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps marks an exciting new chapter for one of Marvel’s most iconic teams,” Jerramy Hainline, EVP of Fandango, said in a statement.
“Early ticket sales show fans are eager to see these characters reimagined for a new generation.”
The real question is, which film will make more money: Superman or Fantastic Four? The former hits cinemas on July 11, while Fantastic Four will be released on July 12 – so, it was a smart move for Marvel to release tickets first, locking audiences into screenings before each movie is jostling for space in multiplexes across the world.
Superman tickets are expected to go on sale soon, and its internal tracking has already been huge, so we’ll get a clearer picture of which superhero movie will come out on top by the end of 2025.
In the meantime, find out where to get all of the Fantastic Four popcorn buckets and check out the first look at one of Marvel’s most powerful characters.
