Fantastic Four Keeps UK-Ireland Crown as Naked Gun Debuts Second
Marvel’s latest retains box-office leadership with a £3.1 million haul while Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot posts the market’s best comedy opening in a year.
Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps stayed atop the UK-Ireland chart for a second weekend, adding an estimated £3.1 million and lifting its cume to £15.4 million. The tally came from a 49 percent drop, a steadier hold than several recent MCU sequels and enough to keep the film on course to overtake the region’s lifetime totals of Ant-Man and Iron Man within days. Its run began with a franchise-best £6.1 million launch on 665 sites, giving Disney its third No. 1 opener of the summer.
Paramount’s rebooted The Naked Gun entered in second place on £1.82 million from 632 venues, averaging just under £2,900 per cinema and posting the strongest comedy bow since Barbie last year, yet still well shy of the leader’s grip on market share. Overseas momentum matters as First Steps crossed $368 million global after ten days, a figure analysts see as a base for a finish north of half a billion if holds remain moderate.
Behind the top pair, Universal’s The Bad Guys 2 eased only 19 percent to £1.33 million, while Jurassic World Rebirth dipped a slim 20 percent to £1.27 million, its UK haul now above £31 million. Warner Bros.’ Superman followed with £1.26 million, pushing the superhero epic to £24.3 million locally and $551 million worldwide.
Industry observers note that July admissions rose three percent year-on-year, helped by a trio of event pictures aimed at 16- to 34-year-olds, including First Steps. Even so, the sector remains dependent on overseas tent-poles: Comscore data shows the Disney title accounting for nearly a third of July’s UK-Ireland weekend revenue.
Internationally, The Naked Gun opened to $17 million in North America and another $11.5 million offshore, a softer start than pre-release tracking projected for Liam Neeson’s spoof but still the genre’s best debut in nearly a decade. Original trilogy director David Zucker, once sceptical of the revival, has since praised the film’s reception while reiterating he has no plans to see it.
