Business has started to slow down at the box office for Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but both films continue to make money in the latter stages of their respective theatrical runs. The two comic book adaptations have crossed some impressive milestones over the past several weeks. Most recently, Superman became one of the 10 highest-grossing films in Warner Bros. history and Fantastic Four cracked Disney’s top 50 of all time. To get to those points, the movies had to top some notable blockbusters from Hollywood history, and the superheroes have just soared past the heroes of Middle-earth.
As of this writing, Superman stands at $347.8 million domestically and The Fantastic Four: First Steps has earned $258.7 million. The former has now beaten The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ($345.5 million) while the latter has topped The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ($258.3 million). All of these figures are unadjusted for inflation.
How Superman & Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ Box Office Runs Compare to Lord of the Rings
In a sign of how much things have changed over the past couple of decades, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers earned $62 million domestically in its debut. From there, it held remarkably well, dropping only 21.2% in its second weekend. Bolstered by awards buzz and enthusiastic audience word of mouth, The Two Towers remained a viable box office draw for months; it stayed in the domestic top 10 for eight consecutive weekends. Interestingly, the film needed multiple releases to reach its $345.5 million total; $339.7 of that haul was earned in its initial run.
Superman proved to be much more front-loaded. With positive reviews of its own, the DC reboot exceeded box office projections and grossed $125 million in its opening weekend. Though it held well for a summer blockbuster, its 53.2% second weekend drop was much steeper than The Two Towers. Only 18.2% of The Two Towers‘ domestic total came from its debut. In contrast, Superman made 35.9% of its current money in its first three days. The Lord of the Rings films illustrate the benefit of releasing a blockbuster in December; if it’s successful, it’ll have more staying power since there isn’t much competition in January.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug had a similarly modest opening (by modern tentpole standards) of $73.6 million domestically. Unlike The Two Towers, reception for The Desolation of Smaug (and the three Hobbit films in general) was much more mixed, which hurt the movie’s legs. Smaug dropped 57.2% in its second weekend and only stayed in the top 10 for five weekends. It still held better than First Steps, which infamously fell 67.1% in its second weekend after a strong $117.6 million opening. Without that big debut, Fantastic Four likely wouldn’t have passed The Desolation of Smaug.
The worldwide numbers tell a very different story in this comparison. Both The Two Towers and The Desolation of Smaug cleared $900 million globally ($938.8 million and $958.3 million, respectively). That’s a figure neither Superman nor The Fantastic Four: First Steps will come close to reaching. Superman recently became the year’s only comic book film to earn $600 million and First Steps hasn’t even hit $500 million as of this writing. The fantasy films were massive draws overseas, earning a majority of their money from international markets. Though Middle-earth’s global figures dwarf the superheroes, it’s still impressive to see Superman and First Steps fare this well domestically.
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