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The Fantastic Four: First Steps remained at the top of the domestic box office chart in its second weekend, garnering US$40 million despite a drop of 66 per cent in box office earnings. The fall in earnings is worrying, especially considering that the film opened to an outstanding US$117.6 million in its first weekend, receiving a great deal of positive audience and critical response.
The Fantastic Four had originally hoped to garner US$200 million domestically by 3 August, but is instead looking to hit US$198.4 million for its 10-day domestic earnings. This falls below expectations, especially when compared to DC Studios’ Superman’s US$236.2 million and its 53 percent drop in its second weekend.
In international markets, the fantastic family recouped its earnings, grossing US$39.6 million for a total of US$170.3 million, adding up to US$368.7 million globally. Despite a respectable performance, it still pales in comparison to Superman’s current international total of US$235 million.
Meanwhile, domestically, The Fantastic Four has fended off new entries: Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys 2 and Paramount Pictures’ Naked Gun, which saw their openings placed second and third, respectively.
The Bad Guys 2 opened domestically with a promising start of US$22.2 million. A sequel to The Bad Guys (2022), The Bad Guys 2 has debuted just slightly behind its predecessor, which opened with US$23 million in North America, before ultimately becoming a surprise hit, attaining US$250 million globally.
Director Pierre Perifel and producer Damon Ross have returned to the sequel, teaming up once again in hopes of replicating the original’s strong CinemaScore of A and favourable reviews. The sequel will also see Sam Rockwell (The White Lotus), Marc Maron (GLOW), Craig Robinson (The Office), Anthony Ramos (Ironheart) and Awkwafina (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) reprising their respective roles.
Newcomers to the voice cast include Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2), Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd), Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Lilly Singh (The Muppets Mayhem), while Danielle Brooks (Peacemaker), Maria Bakalova (The Apprentice) and Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) will voice the new trio of criminal masterminds who call themselves ‘The Bad Girls’.
Elsewhere, Paramount’s The Naked Gun, which stars Liam Neeson opposite Pamela Anderson, also debuted with stronger-than-expected results, garnering US$17 million domestically and US$28.5 million globally.
Produced by Seth MacFarlane, The Naked Gun will feature Neeson in his first leading comedic role, playing Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., who hopes to carry on the legacy of his father, Frank Drebin, the iconic comic role made famous by Leslie Nielsen.
Featuring Paul Walter Hauser (Blackbird), CCH Pounder (NCIS: New Orleans), Kevin Durand (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), Cody Rhodes (Arrow), Liza Koshy (A Family Affair), Eddie Yu (The Pitt) and Danny Houston (The Crow), the film hits theaters 31 years after the last installment, 1994’s Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, bowed on the big screen.
The new film has received an A- CinemaScore from audiences thus far and looks set to be well-received.
Conversation with Ting Wei is like chatting with a weird AI bot programmed only with One Piece lore and theories, sitcom quotes and other miscellaneous pop culture references. When he’s not sleeping, he’s highly likely reading manga. In fact, the only thing he reads more than manga is the Bible, and it’s honestly pretty close.
Si Jia
