‘Fantastic Four' reboot rockets to US No. 1 with US$118m debut, knocks ‘Superman' to second
Fantastic Four—starring actor-of-the-moment Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Emmy winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) — tells the story of a team of heroes trying to save a retro-futuristic world from the evil Galactus.
'This is an outstanding opening,' said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
'Fantastic Four was a modest and struggling superhero series; it just caught up with the biggest and the best.'
Superman, the latest big-budget action film featuring the iconic superhero from Warner Bros. and DC Studios, slipped to second place at US$24.9 million, Exhibitor Relations said.
That puts the global take of the film, starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, over the US$500 million mark.
Jurassic World: Rebirth—the latest installment in the blockbuster dinosaur saga—finished in third place at US$13 million. Its worldwide total stands at US$672.5 million.
The Universal film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali, takes viewers to an abandoned island research facility, where secrets—and genetically mutated dinosaurs—are lurking.
F1: The Movie, the Apple and Warner Bros. flick starring Brad Pitt as a washed-up Formula One driver who gets one last shot at redemption, moved up to fourth place at US$6.2 million.
Smurfs, the latest film featuring the adorable blue creatures and starring Rihanna as Smurfette, slipped to fifth place in only its second week in theaters with US$5.4 million in North American ticket sales.
'The box office is on an excellent run that started two weeks ago,' Gross said.
'These are not the good old days, but Fantastic Four and Superman are performing extremely well. Superheroes are showing some swagger, and it's good news for the industry.'
Rounding out the top 10 were:
Know What You Did Last Summer (US$5.1 million)
How to Train Your Dragon (US$2.8 million)
Eddington (US$1.7 million)
Saiyaara (US$1.3 million)
Oh, Hi! (US$1.1 million) — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
5 hours ago
- Malay Mail
K-pop acts take half of US mid-year top 10 best-selling CDs in 2025
KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — K-pop acts have dominated the United States' midyear list of best-selling CD albums for 2025, with five groups landing in the top 10. According to Soompi, which cited data from American music tracking firm Luminate, the five K-pop artists making the list were Stray Kids, ENHYPEN, ATEEZ, SEVENTEEN and LE SSERAFIM. Luminate, formerly known as Nielsen Music and the data supplier for Billboard charts, tracked sales from January 3 to July 3 this year. Stray Kids' special album (Hop) was the best-selling CD album by a group and the second overall in the United States, with 149,000 copies sold—just behind The Weeknd's Hurry Up Tomorrow with 163,000. ENHYPEN's DESIRE : UNLEASH, released just a month before the end of the tracking period, ranked third with 145,000 copies sold. ATEEZ followed at No. 4 with GOLDEN HOUR : Part.3, selling 116,000 units despite being released less than a month before the cut-off. SEVENTEEN's HAPPY BURSTDAY placed seventh with 79,000 copies, while LE SSERAFIM, the only girl group on the list, claimed the No. 9 spot with 73,000 copies sold for their mini album HOT. The full top 10 list for CD album sales in the United States in the first half of 2025, as reported by Soompi, is as follows: The Weeknd – Hurry Up Tomorrow (163,000) Stray Kids – (HOP) (149,000) ENHYPEN – DESIRE : UNLEASH (145,000) ATEEZ – GOLDEN HOUR : Part.3 (116,000) Sabrina Carpenter – Short n' Sweet (93,000) Lady Gaga – MAYHEM (83,000) SEVENTEEN – HAPPY BURSTDAY (79,000) Kendrick Lamar – GNX (75,000) LE SSERAFIM – HOT (73,000) Morgan Wallen – I'm the Problem (71,000)
Malay Mail
8 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Beyoncé stuns fans with Destiny's Child reunion at Cowboy Carter tour finale in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS, July 28 — Beyoncé brought her 'Cowboy Carter' tour to a rousing close with a surprise reunion of Destiny's Child during the final show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Saturday. According to the Los Angeles Times, the crowd erupted when the Grammy-winning singer took the stage alongside former bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, declaring: 'Destiny's Child, b—!' The trio then launched into a medley of hits, including their 2001 anthem Bootylicious and 2004's Lose My Breath. They also performed a version of Beyoncé's 2022 track Energy, complete with the viral 'mute challenge' that had become a feature of her solo tour. It marked the first time the iconic girl group had performed together onstage since Beyoncé's headline set at Coachella in 2018. Fans online described the moment as 'iconic' and 'legendary', with some calling it one of the standout pop culture moments of the year. 'Y'all will never understand how iconic this is considering they're one of the most successful girl groups of all time,' one user posted on X, formerly Twitter. The surprise reunion also fuelled speculation that a Destiny's Child comeback tour might be in the works. 'If this is a sign that Destiny's Child will go on tour they can 3x the rent, just make it happen,' wrote another fan. The high-energy set also featured Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter collaborator Shaboozey, who joined her for a performance of their hit Sweet Honey Buckiin'. Her husband Jay-Z, a frequent guest during the nine-city stadium tour, also made an appearance in Las Vegas, where the power couple performed Crazy in Love before ending the song with a kiss. Star power extended beyond the stage, with Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Gayle King, Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian spotted in the audience. 'Grand opening, grand closing! Here in Las Vegas with the cowboy crew to watch Beyoncé close out her historic Cowboy Carter tour!!' King posted on Instagram, alongside photos with the A-list crowd. Also in attendance were Kerry Washington, Maya Rudolph and director Paul Thomas Anderson. — Los Angeles Times
Malay Mail
9 hours ago
- Malay Mail
At Comic-Con, fans salute 70 years of Godzilla with roars, panels and nostalgia
SAN DIEGO, July 28 — Godzilla has morphed over the years, but one constant is the devotion of its fans, who celebrated the Japanese monster's 70th anniversary at the pop culture convention Comic-Con. The Japanese studio Toho, which created Godzilla, maintains a calendar of events to celebrate the beast often called the king of monsters, and Comic-Con is on the agenda. Godzilla was born on November 3, 1954 with the launch of the first movie about it, directed by Ishiro Honda. 'I am a very big fan of Godzilla,' said Angela Hill, a teacher who traveled from Arizona to take part in Comic-Con, which this year featured events and displays celebrating Godzilla. One of the world's largest celebrations of pop culture, Comic-Con brings together 130,000 people, many of whom come dressed as wizards, princesses or characters from movies, games or TV series. As the story of Godzilla goes, a prehistoric amphibious beast is awakened and mutated by nuclear bomb testing in the Pacific. It emerges from the sea and attacks Japan in a rage, symbolizing the deadly power of nukes. 'I think because he came from such a historic event—like, a lot of other monsters are just interesting creatures, but they don't hold the grief of a nation,' Hill said, referring to the US nuclear bomb attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. At the pop culture watering hole in San Diego, people lined up to shoot pictures and video with an image of Godzilla, which was also the theme of a panel discussion on Friday that featured Shinji Higuchi, who co-directed a reboot in 2016 called 'Shin Godzilla.' The movie franchise includes nearly 40 films and has spawned hundreds of animated productions about the monster as well as TV series and graphic work. Rooting for him On Saturday the writers Ed Godziszewski and Steve Ryfle signed autographs of their book Godzilla: The First 70 Years, which sold out at Comic-Con. 'It's a rich history,' Ryfle told AFP. 'This is the longest running feature film franchise in cinematic history that's focused on a single, continuous character. It's been around longer than James Bond.' He said the key to its longevity is that Godzilla has evolved over time but stayed faithful to its origins. 'Godzilla has been serious, it's been scary, it's been heroic, it's been funny. But at the same time this is a movie character that's rooted in something that's very real,' Ryfle said. 'And that's the trauma that Japan experienced, both during World War II, and also the trauma of the aftermath of World War II, the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,' he added. He said Honda, who directed the first Godzilla movie, was a veteran who used the film to send a message against war and in particular against nuclear weapons. Michelle Pena, a Godzilla fan who waited in line to get the autograph of the two writers, said part of the monster's charm is how it has changed over the years. 'Good, bad, hero, anti-hero, you know. And I like that,' she said. 'He's not, like, lovable,' she added. 'He's a big dinosaur-looking thing, you know. He's scary. But, like, you really, really find yourself rooting for him.' — AFP
