Fantastic Four (2015)

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

 

Oh, it's a trend for sure. Gareth Edwards did one film before doing Godzilla. Colin Trevarrow did one film before doing Jurassic World. The directors for Skull Island and the next Spider Man both did only one film before starting the project. It makes economic sense to hire these directors on the cheap for franchise films that almost always guarantee a profit. So who cares if the actual films being made are mediocre and boring, amirite?

This too, I think, is where other studios are trying to copy the Marvel Studios formula and sometimes coming up short, as they've had a very successful track record so far of making unconventional choices, whether it's people that are known more for indy or TV work or hungry newcomers, but they've lucked out, there have been some real success stories, and they have a much more efficient machine in place behind it all that's running everything. Whether or not the stories about Trank being difficult are true or not, it didn't seem like the higher-ups at Fox were on the same page with each OTHER, much less the poor bastard that actually had the job of making the thing.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

I knew someone would make this thread. I'd like to reserve my judgement but this video was pretty revealing:

 

 

'WEdidITagain' thank you for sharing that eye opening video, I recently saw another video where they did not touch on all that but instead they discussed rumors that Fox may have ultimately destroyed the movie for good by removing 3 action set pieces and changing the ending amongst other things...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97hBpwl582Y

[ElieB 238]

The one thing I did kinda enjoy was the brief glimpse of the future nutjob Reed would become from the opening scenes of him as a kid. I thought that actor did a great job showing the side of Reed that thinks he knows better than everyone and takes being called insane a compliment. That made it seem like they were taking the character in the right direction and then 90 minutes later it's just the same shit I've seen twice already.

 

Naiedl it. Those ten year olds were able to convey Reed & Grimm's pathos better in 5 minutes than the rest of the actors combined for the duration. Which makes me think there was nothing wrong with Trank's "direction" at the onset of production.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

With the poor weekend box office came the expected Monday morning articles comparing this to other comic "bombs", which again shows that some of these writers just like to bring up their hate for things and don't actually know what a "bomb" is. I mean, this movie certainly appears to be one, but I've seen several mentions again of "Daredevil", which grossed 9 figures domestically, and outdid its production budget by quite a bit, which doesn't make it a runaway hit, but certainly doesn't make it a bomb. I mean, it got mentioned in the same conversation as "Steel", for fuck's sake...

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Before even reading that, I wondered if this was a smaller scale version of WB's "If it worked for Batman..." policy, and it seems to be exactly that, down to the Batman part. It's not even "If it worked for the X-Men...", which Fox has been doing a fine job of running after recovering from the "Origins" incident. I kind of like that even within Marvel properties, there's this competition to actually TRY to keep audiences engaged, because Fox and Sony know that if the rights revert to Marvel, Marvel will be the ONLY ones making money, though with the failure of F4 and Sony's mishandling of Spidey, it looks like they're having a harder time of things. However, I wonder if it's gotten to the point of these other studios knowing they're losing the battle, intentionally running the lesser-performing franchises into the ground with full knowledge that Marvel will have an uphill battle after being given damaged goods. Hmmmm.

 

 

They're being smart with the X-men franchise and letting Bryan Singer have more control over creating the expanded universe like Joss Whedons role over at Marvel.

 

I would also be extremely curious to see a cut of the new Fantastic Four with whatever scenes were obviously excised from the film.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

With the poor weekend box office came the expected Monday morning articles comparing this to other comic "bombs", which again shows that some of these writers just like to bring up their hate for things and don't actually know what a "bomb" is. I mean, this movie certainly appears to be one, but I've seen several mentions again of "Daredevil", which grossed 9 figures domestically, and outdid its production budget by quite a bit, which doesn't make it a runaway hit, but certainly doesn't make it a bomb. I mean, it got mentioned in the same conversation as "Steel", for fuck's sake...

 

 

These articles are basically starting with the premise that if this movie isnt making Avengers money on its opening weekend clearly its a bust, even though its been out one weekend and already made back half of its production budget. I'm sure after the international box office comes back it might even turn a profit.

 

Its a bad movie but it'll make its money back. Even John Carter eventually did.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

 

They're being smart with the X-men franchise and letting Bryan Singer have more control over creating the expanded universe like Joss Whedons role over at Marvel.

 

I would also be extremely curious to see a cut of the new Fantastic Four with whatever scenes were obviously excised from the film.

On one hand, I can see Fox being like "You know what, FUCK that guy" and just never acknowledging any of this other stuff ever existing, but on the other hand, I can see them doing some sort of alternate/editor's cut for the Blu-Ray just to get SOME interest in it and make some extra money on it before the movie just disappears into obscurity forever.

[RyanSz 3140]

With the poor weekend box office came the expected Monday morning articles comparing this to other comic "bombs", which again shows that some of these writers just like to bring up their hate for things and don't actually know what a "bomb" is. I mean, this movie certainly appears to be one, but I've seen several mentions again of "Daredevil", which grossed 9 figures domestically, and outdid its production budget by quite a bit, which doesn't make it a runaway hit, but certainly doesn't make it a bomb. I mean, it got mentioned in the same conversation as "Steel", for fuck's sake...

 

Yeah it's nowhere near Steel level of fail, but also remember that Steel wasn't the biggest hero even in that character's peak. Fantastic Four is one of the marquee Marvel properties and for it to make only 26 million is a huge letdown. It can save itself by breaking even, which would probably be around 240 million worldwide, but even then that can't really be considered a win for Fox considering the history of this franchise.

[seanotron 2307]

Max Landis released 4 pages of his FF script. Dare I say it sounds...fun?

 

http://comicbook.com/2015/08/10/max-landis-releases-four-pages-of-his-fantastic-four-script/

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

Also I love that Fox is mandating "gritty realism".

 

GODDAMNIT, FOX! "Gritty realism" has never, ever been associated with the Fantastic Four. They are supposed to be the MORE FUN super group. My actual main problem with the earlier FF adaptation is that Jessica Alba and whatshisface played it straight. Like anyone is going to be a SERIOUS GUY who is secretly STRETCH ARMSTRONG. Meanwhile Chris Evans was hamming it up big time and the execs are Marvel were like, "We need to steal him.:

 

It's also a great opportunity for family dynamic stuff. I mean, the Avengers sort of become a family after awhile but the Fantastic Four *is* a family from the beginning. I feel like the Sue/Johnny relationship is the key to that. I think teh flmmakers have focused too much on Reed and the Reed/Doom competeting geniuses stuff and lost the heart.

[DwightMillman 0]

Needs to be done!

[GiveMeYourBaby 102]

It's on HBO Go and it's terrible.

 

I hate both child and adult Reed Richards.

How do three men get drunk from one tiny flask?

How are supposed geniuses so fucking stupid?

[imawigspert 6]

I could listen to an entire episode of just June talking about Kate Mara's wig.

[ElieB 238]

PSA for the folks who nominated this trash heap, The Flop House podcast just released an episode on it.

[Kream15 11]

Would love to hear the gang rant on this. Especially since both Jason and Paul are comic book fans. 

But Paul basically writes for Marvel now so not sure. 

Still hopeful  

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Such an astounding lack of success with this franchise. I think theres a fairly solid case to be made that the Roger Corman Fantastic Four is somehow the best of the bunch.