Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads this week’s new releases in the UK and Ireland, opening in 665 cinemas.
Marvel parent company Disney is distributing the second reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise. The first Fantastic Four film opened to £3.5m in 2005 and ended on £12.7m. Its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer opened with £4.1m and closed on £12.4m. The franchise was then rebooted for a first time in 2015 with Fantastic Four, opening to £1.9m and ending on £6.2m.
In the latest reboot Pedro Pascal plays Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, alongside Vanessa Kirby as Sue, Joseph Quinn as Johnny and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing. Matt Shakman directs, having previously overseen 2021 Marvel television series WandaVision.
Disney will look to harness the TV fandoms of its lead cast, with Pascal from The Last Of Us, Kirby from The Crown, Quinn from Stranger Things and Moss-Bachrach from The Bear, to get the franchise going in the right direction.
The new film follows the Fantastic Four as they defend the planet from the god Galactus, played by Ralph Ineson, and Silver Surfer, played by Julia Garner.
The last time audiences saw Pascal and Quinn together was Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II which opened to £8.8m in November last year, amassing a strong £32m.
The Bad Guys 2 is also opening wide with Universal starting the film in 647 sites, up from the 617 cinemas for the 2022 original. That title opened on £1.6m and ended on £13.7m.
Director Pierre Perifel returns with a voice cast which includes Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, Marc Maron as Mr. Snake, Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark, Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula and UK comedian Richard Ayoade as Professor Marmalade.
Based on the book series by Aaron Blabey, The Bad Guys 2 follows a gang of animal criminals who must try to be good and become law-abiding citizens.
Pink Floyd meets Mozart
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters brings his live show to 184 screens; Waters co-directed Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill: Live From Prague – The Movie with Sean Evans. It opened to £49,158 through Trafalgar Releasing on Wednesday.
Warner Bros is re-releasing Steven Spielberg’s adventure The Goonies on 253 screens for its 40th anniversary. Also returning is Amadeus, the 1984 Oscar-winning musical Mozart biopic, restored by Curzon and released in 40 cinemas.
Picturehouse Entertainment melodrama Dying opens in 32 cinemas. The film stars Lars Eidinger, and tells the stories of three members of the same family in overlapping timescales. Dying was German director Matthias Glasner’s third film to play in Competition at the Berlinale after Gnade (2012) and Der Frei Wille (2006).
Shouta Goshozono’s Japanese Animation Jujutsu Kaisen: Hidden Inventory / Premature Death plays in 32 sites this weekend through Sony, having opened in 66 on Wednesday and 79 yesterday.
Bulldog Distribution thriller Gazer opens in 13 sites. The debut feature of writer-director Ryan J Sloan tells the story of a young mother with a condition that affects her ability to perceive time, who takes a risky job from a mysterious woman.
Hong Sangsoo’s 33rd film What Does Nature Say To You?, which was in Competition for Berlin’s Golden Bear earlier this year, is releasing in 9 cinemas through the ICA.
Further releases include BUFF Studios’ 17th-century West African action drama Ireke: Rise of the Maroons in 15 sites and Jean Luc Herbulot’s action thriller Zero from Blue Finch Films in 10.
Key holdovers this week include summer blockbusters Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth, and Sony horror I Know What You Did Last Summer.