Movies With Butter

Let’s move from writing about a pair of near-perfect films -- “Shaun The Sheep” and “Inside Out” -- to one at the other end of the spectrum: the 8% Rotten Tomatoes-scoring “Fantastic Four.”

I hate to kick a movie when it’s down, but Fox’s “Fantastic Four” just keeps on falling. With most films dropping off in the 30% and 40% range this weekend, the superhero movie dropped by a very conspicuous 69%, making just $8M in its second weekend after opening with an already subpar $26M.

The total for “Fantastic Four” is now at just $42M. At its current pace, the reboot will finish its theatrical run in the $50M range; each of the previous two “Fantastic” films did that in their opening weekend alone.

With films that underperformed domestically, studios always look to the overseas market to save them, but “Fantastic Four” is not doing much better outside of the U.S. either. So far, it has taken in only $60M. The worldwide total is at $102M; with a budget of $120M, it needs to do at least $240M to break even because studios only get about 50% of the box office. Currently, that goal is very far away.

This is a huge loss for Fox, most likely nipping their plans for two more future installments. I don’t see those two sequels happening unless they could convince both Brad Bird (“The Incredibles”) to direct and Dwayne “The Franchise Rejuvenator” Johnson to star.

With poor reviews (I didn’t think it was that bad though), the film was off to a bad start at the box office from the get-go, making just $2.7M in Thursday evening screenings and ending its opening day with just $11M. It snowballed from there.

(Box office figures from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

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