Fantastic Four clears half-billion global box office but underperforms

Marvel Studios and Disney's The Fantastic Four First Steps opened July 25 and has quietly cleared the half billion dollar mark at the global box office, but its gains have fallen short of early expectations and highlighted a difficult summer for the studio. The superhero reboot, directed by Matt Shakman and starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, earned a robust opening weekend but then experienced steep declines in subsequent weeks before stabilizing and ultimately surpassing roughly 500 million worldwide, industry trackers say.

The film debuted to about 117.5 million domestically and was produced on a reported budget of 200 million before marketing. Early tallies varied as the run continued. Some trackers reported mid-run totals near 479 million worldwide, while more recent estimates put the film at approximately 505 million to 506 million globally, with about 265.8 million domestically and roughly 240.5 million internationally. Box-office forecasters had projected modest Labor Day weekend gains that would push its cumulative gross into the low 500 millions. The movie remains in theaters and will have additional weeks to add to its total...