No doubt about it, comic book film fans are rooting for Marvel to finally deliver a “Fantastic Four” worth celebrating.

A more innocent, optimistic and juvenile franchise that has proven hard to start, restart and reboot, the thinking this time was to take it back to its ’60s origins/heyday and spend the money ($200 million?) on production design and effects and see what happened.

Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby are the “names” in the cast, and they can’t open a picture on “name” alone.

A $24 million+ opening night Thursday folds in to a beefy Friday to give “F4” a $56 million start to the weekend. The Numbers reports that the big start faded from earlier projections of a $125 million opening weekend, right in that “Superman” sweet spot. $118 million is the tentative tally now.

Reviews were hardly over-the-moon, and audience polling is in the 70% recommend range (not dazzling). I found it gorgeous but joyless, not entirely plotless but the narrative was more “We can do this…together” messaging than anything clever, witty or touching.

Marvel won’t be losing money on this one, as it’s opening big abroad as well — a $27 million take overseas, says Deadline.

These movies are formulaic juvenalia, more productions of “content” than movies, which is the reason you almost never see big names/big talents behind the camera directing them the way you did for a few Harry Potter pictures. Matt Shakman’s a TV director with “Wandavision” and lots and lots of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” credits. Not exactly “Move over, Scorsese.” Or Joss Whedon. Or Sam Raimi.

Just hiring somebody who can be on set for the actors while the producers/production call the shots and keep the pricey train running on time is no way to make something extraordinary.

Sucking all the oxygen out of the superhero cinema audience should mean that “Superman” will lose more than half of last weekend’s take and deliver another $24..86 million by midnight Sunday.

July 2 opener “Jurassic World: Rebirth” is on track for a $13 million weekend, and should and clear the $300 million mark as it exits July. “Superman” will soar past that same mark by next weekend.

“F1” is outperforming last weekend’s duds with a $6.2 million tally, good enough for fourth place.

Shame of shames, Paramount’s half-hearted “Smurfs” is besting “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” by $5.4 million to $5.1 million, putting the beaten-to-death kiddie cartoon in the Top Five one last weekend.

Both opened weak and are fading fast.

Seventh place goes to the “How to Train Your Dragon” remake ($2.8), eighth to an Indian film opening in relatively wide release — “Saiyaara” ( $1.4).

“Eddington” opened poorly and is already shedding screens, managing just $1.664 on its second weekend and last one in the top ten. It’s clinging to ninth place.

Among the weekend’s other wide-ish openings, the twisted “romance” “Oh, Hi!” (Really, Sony Pictures “Classics?”), will crack the top ten with around $1.1 million.

The documentary “Folktales,” a Pete Davidson horror (Comedy?) “The Home,” the bloody/land-stealing/founding-of-Israel drama “Shoshana” and the Italian coming-of-age drama “Diciannove” don’t figure to make as much noise as A24’s counter-programming bomb “Eddington” did last weekend.