Fantastic Four Didn't Do As Badly At The Box-Office As You Think

But Fox's superhero reboot is still Von-Doomed.

By now you€™ll know Josh Trank€™s Fantastic Four is dead. Very dead. It€™s rocking 9% on Rotten Tomatoes, has a C- CinemaScore, the lowest ever for a superhero movie (yes, worse even than the grades posted by Batman & Robin and Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance, both of which earned a C+), and with a $26 million bow at the North American box-office has found itself running second to Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation on its sophomore week. But what you might not know is that it made substantially more internationally. At the end of its first weekend, Fantastic Four posted $34.1 million in international grosses, taking its worldwide total to $60 million, which is a lot higher than the figure bemoaned across the net. But does that make it a hit? Not even close. Budgeted at around $120 million and with word of mouth at an absolutely cancerous pitch, it€™s looking unlikely the superhero quartet will break even for Twentieth Century Fox.
International totals tend to represent a vast quantity of a superhero movie€™s total earnings, so it€™s no surprise these markets have out-grossed the stateside haul on F4. But $34.1 million isn€™t a good number. By comparison in the same release window last year, Guardians Of The Galaxy hooked $67.4 million on its international bow. In May 2013 Iron Man 3 managed an amazing $198 million. These are certainly high-benchmarks, but as you€™ll see, Fantastic Four hasn€™t even put a dent in it. Fox haven€™t cancelled the proposed F4 sequels as of yet, but with numbers like these, that can only be a matter of time. The movie is totally representative of such a weak debut; it's shoddy, ineptly written second half absolutely detonating the competent opening 30 minutes. Nobody much seems to like the film, and it€™ll be a miracle if it manages to hold in theatres until the end of August. Fantastic Four has officially tranked... sorry, tanked. Did you go see Fantastic Four? What did you make? How much do you see it making at the end of its run? Share your thoughts down in the comments.
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Writer, cinephile and owner of Vampire's Kiss on DVD. Take from that what you will.