Acclaimed Horror Movie Projected To Beat Fantastic Four At Box Office This Weekend

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Following two consecutive weekends as the box office leader, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is expected to relinquish its top spot soon. According to Variety’s forecast, the film could make around $18-$20 million domestically during its third weekend, with the exact figure depending on how well it maintains its audience. This weekend brings two highly anticipated new releases, which are predicted to compete fiercely for the top spot. The comedy sequel “Freakier Friday” is estimated to generate between $27-$30 million in its opening week.

As a die-hard movie enthusiast, I’m eagerly looking forward to catching Zach Cregger’s chilling masterpiece, “Weapons,” hitting theaters this weekend. According to Variety, it’s projected to earn somewhere between $25-30 million in its opening three days. The forecast for both “Freakier Friday” and “Weapons” is so tight that it’s difficult to predict which one will emerge as the clear champion. However, it seems that “First Steps” might be content with claiming the third spot on the box office chart this weekend.

Following the success of Cregger’s “Barbarian” in establishing him as a promising horror filmmaker, the upcoming movie titled “Weapons” is eagerly awaited by cinema enthusiasts. The film has created quite a stir with its enigmatic marketing strategy that provides minimal details about the plot but effectively captivates audiences with its eerie, unsettling atmosphere and basic premise. Preliminary responses have some praising “Weapons” as “a masterpiece,” indicating it’s garnering positive word of mouth prior to its cinematic premiere.

The movie titled The Fantastic Four: First Steps garnered impressive earnings during its debut, raking in approximately $117.6 million in the U.S. and roughly $216 million globally. However, it struggled to maintain momentum, experiencing a substantial 67% decline in domestic ticket sales for its second weekend. This underperformance underscores a challenging truth for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it adapts to the post-pandemic film industry landscape.

It wasn’t assumed that “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” would shatter box office records, but Marvel likely anticipated a larger audience turnout. Titles such as “Freakier Friday” and “Weapons” are eagerly awaited within their respective age groups, however, neither can compare to the scale of a high-budget comic book adaptation aiming for four different audiences. If “Fantastic Four” had maintained the success of “Superman”, it could have held onto the top spot throughout the first half of August. However, indicative of how much things have evolved, it’s expected to begin slipping in box office rankings as early as its third weekend.

It’s important to clarify that “First Steps” isn’t destined to be another flop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) this year. With its impressive opening, it won’t take long for it to surpass “Thunderbolts” and “Captain America: Brave New World” to become the highest-grossing MCU film of 2021. Moreover, it’s already earned back its production budget, which was over $200 million, ensuring a profit by the end of its run in theaters. Although Marvel and Disney might have hoped “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” would dominate August releases, they should still be pleased with these results.

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2025-08-06 20:01