Why Fantastic Four 2015 Was So Bad, According to Writer
Writer Jeremy Slater shares his thoughts on why the 2015 Fantastic Four movie was so bad, revealing he and the director clashed on its tone. The film served as a reboot of Fox's franchise surrounding the Marvel superhero team and explored the origin story of childhood friends Reed Richards and Ben Grimm and scientist Sue Storm and her engineer brother Johnny as they are recruited by government researcher Professor Franklin Storm to complete a Quantum Gate designed by his protégé Victor Von Doom. However, when they decide to embark on an unsanctioned voyage into the parallel dimension, they return changed on a genetic level and must use their superhuman abilities to prevent Doom from destroying the world.
Miles Teller led the cast of Fantastic Four alongside Michael B. Jordon, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey and Tim Blake Nelson. Directed by Josh Trank on a script co-written by he, Slater and Simon Kinberg, the film received largely negative reviews from critics and audiences alike and was a box office bomb, only grossing $168 million against its $150 million budget. Fantastic Four's failure led to plans for a sequel cancelled and the rights eventually reverting to Marvel Studios, who are currently developing a new reboot set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Spider-Man: No Way Home's Jon Watts attached to direct.
As his latest Marvel venture has arrived on Disney+, one fan took to Twitter to ask Moon Knight writer Jeremy Slater about his time on 2015's Fantastic Four movie. Slater revealed that most of his problems from the failed film came from a disagreement in what the tone of it should be between he and director Josh Trank. See what Slater explained below:
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Production on the 2015 Fantastic Four movie has become a story of infamy in Hollywood, with Josh Trank and 20th Century Fox reportedly clashing over the tone of the film and the studio ordering major reshoots without the director's supervision after being unsatisfied with his original cut. In the years since, Trank has openly spoken about his distaste for the final product of the film, even memorably tweeting ahead of its release his frustration with the theatrical version and expressing his belief that his cut would have received better reviews. Victor Von Doom actor Toby Kebbell has also spoken out in defense of Trank for Fantastic Four, praising the director's original vision for the film and pointing towards the "people in charge" as the real reason behind the film's failure.
As Slater indicates in his newest comments, one of the biggest points of criticism for the 2015 Fantastic Four movie was the film's dark tone, believing it to be too devoid of humor or hope. The film's poor reception ultimately saw critics look back at Tim Story's Fantastic Four movies from the mid '00s with better favor in comparison to the reboot, appreciating them for their more consistent and brighter tones. With Watts' MCU Fantastic Four reboot still early in development, only time will tell whether it can eclipse the reception of prior attempts or fall victim to poor reviews once again.
Source: Jeremy Slater/Twitter