Following a very good $117.6 million domestic debut last weekend, Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is expected to easily retain the box-office crown in its sophomore run.
The big question is regarding its longevity in the marketplace and how much it will drop in that second run. Variety reports that the film is aiming for a second weekend of $45-52 million.
That would a 55-60% decine, a bigger dip than the 53% second weekend drop of James Gunn’s “Superman” earlier in the month, but in the midrange of MCU films – on par with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (56.6%) and “Iron Man 3” (58.4%).
Three new major releases are out this weekend – the animated sequel “The Bad Guys 2,” the new take on “The Naked Gun” with Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, and the Dave Franco-Alison Brie body horror tale “Together”.
The trio have scored good, very good and excellent reviews respectively thus far. “The Bad Guys 2” will fare the best with $20-25 million – about even with the $23 million opening weekend of its predecessor.
The others are expected to have quiet debuts – the 85-minute “The Naked Gun” is headed for a $15-17 million start for the three-day. “Together” opens Wednesday and is expected to earn between $7.5-10 million by the end of Sunday.
Its third weekend is when “Fantastic Four” could lose its crown with Disney’s “Freakier Friday” on track to debut from next Friday to around $45-55 million in its first three days.
