Last weekend, the Marvel superhero film "Fantastic 4: The Next Generation" continued to top the box office charts, followed by two new releases: Universal Pictures' animated film "Villains 2" and Paramount's comedy "The Man Who Shagged Me."
Fantastic 4 box office outlook is not optimistic
Although "Fantastic 4" topped the list, its opening weekend box office plummeted 66% to just $40 million. For a blockbuster, a second weekend drop of around 50% is considered excellent. This year's "Man of Steel" and "F1: The Drive" saw second-weekend box office drops of around 54%, making "Fantastic 4's" 66% a far cry from its previous performance.
It seems that North American audiences are still experiencing aesthetic fatigue with Marvel movies. Even though "Fantastic 4" has generally received good reviews, outside of Marvel die-hard fans (who flocked to the theaters in their first weekend, bringing the film a $117.6 million opening box office), casual audiences still haven't been able to mobilize their enthusiasm for Marvel movies.
"Fantastic 4" saw a 66% drop in box office revenue in its second weekend.
The 66% drop also made "Fantastic 4" one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's biggest second-weekend box office declines. While better than "Captain Marvel: The Winter Soldier" (78%), it's roughly on par with Marvel's "underperformers" such as "Captain America: Civil War" (68%), "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum of Madness" (70%), and "Thor: Love and Thunder" (67%). However, unlike these films, "Fantastic 4" isn't a sequel, but a fresh launch from a powerful IP.
Elsewhere around the world, "Fantastic 4" also underperformed at the box office, earning only $39.6 million in its second weekend. Currently, the film has only grossed $368 million worldwide. If this trend continues, it's very likely that a North American opening will exceed $100 million, but ultimately gross no more than $300 million in North America and no more than $500 million worldwide. This scenario has only occurred once before: last year's "The Wizard of Oz."
"Bad Guys 2" has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 86%.
Coming in second place at the weekend box office was "The Bad Guys 2," which opened in 3,852 North American theaters. This DreamWorks animated film, produced by the same team as the previous film, holds an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, given the recent absence of animated blockbusters in North America, its $22 million opening was considered mediocre.
By comparison, the first film, released in the spring of 2022, despite facing the pandemic's spread in North America, opened with $23.9 million. Ultimately, it grossed $97 million in North America and $250 million worldwide. It seems likely that the second film, which cost $80 million to produce, will ultimately perform similarly to the first. Profitability is a given, and a third installment is a reasonable prospect.
However, it's not just "Villain 2." Previously released Pixar films like "Earth Correspondents" and Paramount Animation's "The Smurfs" also performed poorly at the box office. So far, the top-grossing animated film in North America in 2025 is "Dog," which was released earlier this year. Does this mean that the appeal of animated films targeting family audiences is declining? If so, it would be very bad news for the North American cinema industry.
"The White-Headed Detective: The Madman Who Destroyed the World" received high praise from film critics
The most noteworthy new release of the weekend was the comedy "The Naked Gun," which ranked third on the box office chart. The film opened in 3,344 theaters over the weekend and earned $17 million at the box office.
"The Man Who Knew Too Much" is starring Liam Neeson.
"The Grim Reaper" is a reboot of the classic parody film "The Grim Reaper," marking another turning point in Liam Neeson's career: from action actor to comedian. In the film, he plays Detective Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the original Frank Drebin, played by Leslie Nielsen. Liam Neeson also develops a romantic chemistry with actress Pamela Anderson, achieving both professional and romantic success.
The sparks between Liam Neeson and the heroine Pamela Anderson extend from inside the play to outside the play.
The original "The Man Who Shagged Me," created by the renowned comedy team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, was a huge success upon its release in 1988, sparking a global craze for parody films. However, since the turn of the century, younger audiences have seemingly lost interest in such nonsensical films, leading to a gradual decline in the genre. Furthermore, in Hollywood today, comedies, like romances, have long since fallen into a niche genre, with few productions and few people willing to see them in theaters. Against this backdrop, the $17 million opening for "The Man Who Shagged Me" is quite impressive.
The Rotten Tomatoes rating for "The Dark Knight" is 91%.
Crucially, the film's production quality was quite good, with a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and rave reviews from nearly every professional critic. Such acclaim is rare for a nonsensical parody. Yet, precisely because of its overwhelming popularity, its opening box office was only $17 million, which is a bit disappointing.
On July 25th, "Happy Gilmore 2," starring comedian Adam Sandler, skipped a physical release and went directly to Netflix. Despite poor reviews, the film attracted 46.7 million viewers in its first three days, setting a new record for the first three days of a Netflix original film. This demonstrates that North American audiences don't dislike comedies; they simply believe they're not worth the trip to the theater.
Last weekend's box office rankings were again held by two older films: Warner Bros.' "Man of Steel" and Universal's "Jurassic World: Resurgence." Neon Pictures' horror film "Together" ranked sixth. Starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, the horror film opened in 2,302 theaters across North America, grossing $6.8 million over the weekend. This is a respectable result for an independent horror film.
Monthly box office revenue exceeded $1 billion for the first time this year
July's North American box office finally broke through the $1 billion mark, marking the first month in the North American film market to reach that level in 2025. However, this was also the lowest July box office total in the past five years, down about 9% from last July. Taking ticket prices into account, actual moviegoers were down by about a quarter compared to July 2020, the height of the pandemic.
Of July's $1 billion in box office revenue, "Man of Steel" (Warner Bros.), "Jurassic World: Resurgence" (Universal), and "Fantastic 4: The Next Generation" (Disney) combined accounted for over three-quarters, proving that IP-based films remain the paramount importance of the summer season. Looking at "Deadpool vs. Wolverine," which opened in July last year with a $210 million opening and a North American total of $630 million, it's easy to see why this year's July box office totals weren't ideal. In fact, even including August's new releases, it's unlikely that any North American summer film will open above $150 million, nor will any total gross exceed $500 million.
Last August, the North American box office totaled $900 million, the best performance in the past four years, and the actual number of moviegoers was even very close to the levels of 2018 and 2019. By the first weekend of August this year, the North American box office total was only $125 million, a 28% drop from the $172 million in the same weekend last year, which is not ideal.
