Superhero movies are back, but they're sharing the spotlight

NBC News

3 days ago

Superheroes are flying high again at the movies. Marvel's 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' and rival DC's 'Superman' ruled the box office this past weekend, giving the genre a much-needed jolt for audiences and corporate executives alike.
While both movies are bonafide summer hits, they're supporting players in the blockbuster story this year — a divergence from recent years when superhero flicks, particularly from Disney's Marvel Studios, would seize most of the spotlight.
'You have so many movies out there this summer, all competing for the hearts and minds and wallets of the audience,' said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Many moviegoers are also paying more money to see major releases on the biggest, most cutting-edge screens such as IMAX's.
Universal's 'Jurassic World Rebirth,' Apple and Warner Bros.' 'F1 The Movie' and DreamWorks Animation's 'How to Train Your Dragon' have racked up big bucks this season. And it all kicked off with a record-breaking Memorial Day weekend led by Paramount's 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' and Disney's 'Lilo & Stitch' remake. (Universal and DreamWorks Animation share a parent company with NBC News.) 'The Naked Gun,' 'Freakier Friday' and 'Weapons' are on the way in August.
The box office is on track to outpace last year, which suffered from lingering effects of production delays triggered by the 2023 actors' and writers' strikes. The tally to this point is $5.2 billion, ahead of $4.6 billion during the same period last year, according to Comscore. Dergarabedian said the year's total could reach $9.5 billion, which would make 2025 the best frame since before the pandemic, when domestic grosses would consistently top $10 billion. There's hope for the back half of the year, with much-anticipated films like 'Wicked: For Good' and 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' on the slate.
But so far, 'Lilo & Stitch' is the only film this year to cross the $1 billion mark at the global box office, a benchmark several U.S.-produced movies would hit each year before the Covid pandemic started in early 2020. (Warner Bros.' 'A Minecraft Movie' is close, grossing more than $955 million, according to data from Comscore.)
The biggest superhero movies used to routinely break the billion-dollar barrier. Four of them, including Disney-Pixar's 'The Incredibles 2,' did it in 2018; another three cleared it in 2019. Marvel's last superhero film to surpass $1 billion was the R-rated 'Deadpool & Wolverine,' which came out last July and boasted the return of Hugh Jackman's fan-favorite Wolverine. Before that, it was 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' in 2021. DC's last billion-dollar grosser was 'Aquaman' in 2018.
'To get to a billion dollars is a huge deal,' said Dergarabedian. 'When you get up into the $800 million range globally, to get to the finish line and cross over to a billion, it's like trying to break the sound barrier.'
While $1 billion for 'The Fantastic Four' might be too far for even the stretchy Mister Fantastic to reach, the movie's $218 million global opening is nonetheless a win for Marvel. Previous Marvel releases this year, 'Captain America: Brave New World,' which was released in February and grossed $409 million worldwide, and 'Thunderbolts,' which grossed $378 million off its May release, were disappointments at the box office.
'Superman' — which was directed by James Gunn, who helmed the lucrative 'Guardians of the Galaxy' trilogy for Marvel — has already topped $500 million worldwide, according to data from Comscore. Like 'Fantastic Four,' it won critical praise — and audiences actually liked it.
'There is no superhero fatigue,' Dergarabedian said. 'It's bad movie fatigue.'
It's been a rough stretch for both Marvel and DC. DC has suffered more outright flops recently — 'The Flash,' 'Shazam: Fury of the Gods' and 'Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom' all underwhelmed in 2023 — pushing Warner Bros. to hire Gunn from Marvel to revitalize the brand. Marvel, though, has suffered from a dilution of its heroic sagas across theatrical releases and streaming — something even Disney CEO Bob Iger acknowledged in late 2023. He also warned that the industry might have gotten too accustomed to astronomical grosses.
'I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn't do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed,' he said at the time. 'That's an unbelievably high standard and I think we have to get more realistic.'
While those kinds of grosses are becoming rarer, Hollywood is still going big on marquee releases. Indeed, the hero of the summer may not be Sue Storm or Superman — it could be IMAX.
Large-screen IMAX showings accounted for 20% or more of the opening weekend domestic box office revenue for 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,' 'F1: The Movie' and 'Sinners,' the company said.
'When it comes to going out to the movies, especially for the bigger than life blockbusters like 'Mission: Impossible,' people really want to see those on the biggest screen possible,' said Dergarabedian.
A record eight consecutive movies released on IMAX screens this year were filmed and edited with the format in mind, including 'Superman' and 'Fantastic Four,' according to IMAX. CEO Rich Gelfond has said he expects the company to clear $1.2 billion at the global box office this year.
'I think people recognize it's a premium experience, and they're willing to pay for it,' Gelfond said in IMAX's earnings call this month.