"Superman" and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" hit theaters this summer. Brent Lang, executive editor of Variety, joins CBS News with his picks.

Hollywood

Marvel has released its latest film, 'The Fantastic Four, First Steps,' with hopes of achieving box office numbers similar to DC's recent 'Superman' success. While projections suggest a strong debut, industry analysts note that superhero fatigue and market saturation have impacted audience enthusiasm. 

Studios are adjusting strategies by focusing on quality over quantity, with Marvel planning fewer releases moving forward. The global box office landscape has also changed, with reduced access to markets like China and Russia. Despite these challenges, both Marvel and DC have upcoming projects, including a new Avengers film and DC's Supergirl and Clayface movies.

New movies to catch this summer

Welcome to the Baxter building. We make a point to do family dinner every week. All right, Marvel is hoping it's box office clobbering time with the release of its latest film, The Fantastic Four, First Steps. The release comes on the heels of DC's Superman's success in theaters. And after a few years of superhero fatigue, some fans seem to tire of the genre. Superman's current box office earnings stand at $235 million in North America and over $400 million globally. Marvel aims to beat that this weekend. Here to talk about this is Brent Lang, the executive editor for Variety. Brent, thank you so much for being here. Good morning. So Fantastic Four is out today. Does it stand any chance of the kind of numbers that Superman pulled in on opening weekend? Yeah, I think it's gonna be very close. I mean, right now, more conservative projections have it at about $110 million opening domestically, which is about 15 million short. But the reviews are really strong. The audience seems to be enjoying this film. So I could see it kind of matching the $125 million debut of Superman. I think that's in reach. Now, Brent, we keep talking about superhero fatigue, that audiences are maybe getting tired of superhero movies. Hollywood is still putting them out for the summer. So what does Hollywood know about superhero fatigue? I actually think there has been a little bit of oversaturation of the genre. I mean, it's been very, very popular for 20 years. And this year, for example, Marvel released three films. Going forward, they say they're gonna focus more on quality rather than quantity. I think they're gonna reduce the number of movies they're releasing. The audience just isn't there anymore because there's all these streaming shows. There's so many sequels. The films themselves have become so complicated that I think they're gonna kind of move back, pull back a little bit. We were talking during the break. You mentioned that you've seen Fantastic Four. Do you think that Marvel is hoping to sort of right the ship on superhero movies with this movie? Absolutely. They're really hoping to kind of reintroduce these characters. They're a very, very famous storied legacy. And they want to kind of recapture the fun, the spirit of fun that these other films have had in the past. And you don't have to go in having watched a whole bunch of shows or knowing every kind of like intimate detail of the genre to enjoy this film. It's kind of, it works as a standalone experience. Do you think that audiences actually have superhero fatigue or is it that they want to see good superhero movies? Well, I think you've kind of hit the nail on the head too. They will still show up if the movie itself is good. For example, Deadpool and Wolverine did very, very well. And that's because it was hilarious. It absolutely delivered what people were looking for. Yeah, and it seems like there are hits and there are misses in the genre. Superman, could we call this a pretty resounding success? It is a success. I think the problem though is that the global box office has shrunk because China isn't as open to these movies as it was in the past and Russia is a closed market. So if you look at this, these are very, very expensive movies to produce. They cost north of $200 million. And because theaters take half of the ticket sales, you need to more than double your budget. So you're looking at something that's not successful if it makes less than $500 million. If audiences are feeling some of this fatigue with the superhero movies, could that have a ripple effect on the movie industry as a whole on other genres even? Absolutely. I mean, superhero movies, comic book movies have been holding up the movie business and the movie business is struggling right now. So it needs these comic book movies to do well. Have these movies been successful critically, the ones that have done well? Are we seeing situations where maybe the audiences and the critics are not in alignment on some of these? Well, sometimes. I mean, Thunderbolts actually did get pretty good reviews, but I think the problem was these were kind of grade C superheroes. And in the past, people would show up if you threw a cape and some spandex on somebody. I don't think they're as willing to do that anymore. What's in the future for Marvel and DC for the rest of the year? So no more movies from either one, but going forward, DC has a Supergirl movie and a Clayface movie coming out. And then there's another Avengers movie coming back and that's where Marvel is gonna really hope that they can recapture the magic of Endgame. All right. Brent Lang, thanks so much for being here to talk with us. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

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Breakdown