FRIDAY PM UPDATE: A brief lull precedes the upcoming Freakier Friday-Weapons double feature next weekend. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is projected to earn approximately $12 million today, with a forecasted second weekend total ranging from $40M-$45M. This could bring its total gross to over $200M (or around $198M at the lowest). While this represents a 66% drop and is comparable to Captain America: Brave New World (-68%), it’s a steeper decline than Thunderbolts* (-56%), indicating a strong initial rush for Marvel’s first family. The film is screening in 4,125 theaters.
DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys 2, playing in 3,852 locations, is slightly outperforming the original 2022 release with an estimated $9M on its opening day (including previews) and a projected three-day total of $22M.
Paramount’s The Naked Gun appears to be performing well, bringing in $6M on Friday and an estimated $16M over the three-day weekend from 3,344 theaters. The film has received positive feedback, and if these figures hold, it would mark Liam Neeson’s biggest opening as a leading actor since 2014’s Taken 3 ($39.2M debut). If successful, it will surpass the opening of the R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings from 2023.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros/DC Studios’ fourth weekend of James Gunn’s Superman is projected to earn around $13.5M, reflecting a 46% decrease, resulting in a cumulative total of $315.8M. By that time, its total should track about 5% behind that of Matt Reeves’ 2022 film, The Batman, which concluded its domestic run at $369.3M.
Fifth place goes to Universal’s Jurassic World Rebirth, which is expected to gross $2.3M on Friday, culminating in $8.1M over its fifth weekend. This brings its cumulative earnings to $317M, which is about 10% less than the previous film in the series, Jurassic World: Dominion, which ultimately garnered $376.8M.
Neon’s Together has taken sixth place, earning $2.2M today, with a projected three-day total of $6M-$7M and $10M-$11M over five days. If it performs well, it may reach similar figures as Midsommar, which earned $10.9M over a similar timeframe.
FRIDAY AM: The first weekend of August kicks off with DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s The Bad Guys 2 earning $2.25 million from Thursday previews beginning at 2 p.m., surpassing the original’s $1.15M in 2022. The tracking estimate for Bad Guys 2 stands at $20M.
