Fantastic Four (2015 film)
Fantastic Four (styled as FANT4STIC) is a 2015 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. Directed by Josh Trank, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg, it stars Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell. The film follows a group of intelligent teenagers that build a transdimensional portal, causing them to gain superhuman abilities.
Fantastic Four
- Jeremy Slater
- Simon Kinberg
- Josh Trank
- Matthew Vaughn
- Simon Kinberg
- Gregory Goodman
- Hutch Parker
- Robert Kulzer
- Elliot Greenberg
- Stephen Rivkin
20th Century Fox
- August 4, 2015 (New York City)
- August 7, 2015 (United States)
100 minutes[2]
English
$167.9 million[4]
20th Century Fox announced plans to reboot the franchise, and development of the film began in August 2009. Trank was hired to direct in July 2012 and the principal characters were cast in January 2014. Principal photography began in May 2014 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and lasted for two months. Dissatisfied with the director's original cut, Fox executives mandated reshoots, which took place in January 2015.
Fantastic Four premiered at Williamsburg Cinemas in New York City on August 4, 2015, and was released on August 7 in the United States. The film was panned by critics, who called the film "woefully misguided" without the "humor, joy, or colorful thrills" found in the source material. It is often ranked among the worst superhero movies ever made.[6][7] The film grossed $167.9 million worldwide against a production budget of $120 million, losing 20th Century Fox over $80 million. At the 36th Golden Raspberry Awards, it won several awards, including Worst Director and Worst Picture. Trank also voiced his displeasure with the final film, blaming the studio's interference.
It was the final Fantastic Four film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox, which was acquired by Disney in 2019. A sequel scheduled for release on June 9, 2017 was canceled after the film's critical and commercial failure. Another reboot is scheduled for release on July 25, 2025, and will be the first film in Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Plot[edit]
Childhood friends Reed Richards and Ben Grimm have worked together on a prototype teleporter since youth, eventually attracting the attention of Professor Franklin Storm, director of the Baxter Foundation, a government-sponsored research institute for young prodigies. Reed is recruited to join them and aid Storm's children, scientist Sue Storm and engineer Johnny Storm, into completing a "Quantum Gate" designed by Storm's protégé Victor Von Doom.
The experiment is successful, and the facility's supervisor, Dr. Allen, plans to send a group from NASA to venture into a parallel dimension known as "Planet Zero". Disappointed at being denied the chance to join the expedition, Reed, Johnny and Victor along with Ben use the Quantum Gate to embark on an unsanctioned voyage to Planet Zero, which they learn is a world filled with otherworldly substances. Victor attempts to touch the green lava-like substance, causing the ground they are standing on to erupt. Reed, Johnny and Ben return to their shuttle just as Sue brings them back to Earth and Victor is seemingly killed after he falls into the collapsing landscape. The Quantum Gate explodes, altering Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben on a genetic level and granting them superhuman abilities beyond their control: Reed can stretch like rubber, Sue can become invisible and generate force fields, Johnny can engulf his entire body in fire and fly, and Ben acquires a rock-like hide which gives him superhuman strength and durability. They are then placed in government custody to be studied and have their abilities tested. Blaming himself for the accident, Reed escapes from the facility and tries to find a cure for their changes.
One year later in 2015, Reed is now a fugitive and has built a suit that helps him control his ability. Hiding in Central America, he is eventually found by the United States military with Sue's help and captured by Ben, who has become a military asset along with Johnny and Sue. Johnny and Sue have been outfitted with specialized suits designed to help them control their abilities. Reed is brought to Area 57, where Dr. Allen conscripts him into rebuilding the Quantum Gate in exchange for giving Reed the resources to find a cure. Arriving in Planet Zero, Dr. Allen's explorers find Victor, who has been fused to his spacesuit and now possesses telekinetic abilities, and bring him back to Earth. Believing that Earth needs to be destroyed to protect his new home world from future invasions, Victor kills the scientists and soldiers in the base, including Dr. Allen and Professor Storm, and returns to Planet Zero using the Quantum Gate, with Ben, Johnny, Reed and Sue in pursuit.
Now dubbing himself "Doom", Victor activates a portal on Planet Zero using the Quantum Gate and begins consuming the landscape of the Earth using a structure he created from the rock formations in Planet Zero. He is confronted by the four and, after a short battle, Ben punches Doom into the portal's energy beam, disintegrating him while Johnny closes the portal. Returning to Earth, the group is rewarded by the US military for their heroics by being given a new base of operations known as "Central City" to study their abilities without government interference. They decide to use their powers to help people and adopt the mantle of the "Fantastic Four".
Additionally, Dan Castellaneta portrays Mr. Kenny, Reed's teacher, Tim Heidecker appears as Mr. Richards, Reed's stepfather, and Mary Rachel Dudley appears as Mrs. Richards. Wayne Pere and Rhonda Johnson Dents appear as Science Fair Judges.[27] Chet Hanks appears as Jimmy Grimm, Ben Grimm's older brother.[28]
Release[edit]
The world premiere of Fantastic Four was at Williamsburg Cinemas in New York City on August 4, 2015.[99] It was released in North America on August 7, 2015, on 3,995 screens.[100][101] In December 2012, it was scheduled for March 6, 2015 release,[102] which was changed in November 2013 to June 19, 2015, before settling on its final date of August 7, 2015.[103]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Fantastic Four grossed $56.1 million in North America and $111.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $167.9 million, against a production budget of $120 million (estimated $200 million including marketing and distribution costs), making it the lowest grossing theatrically released Fantastic Four film to date.[4][104]
In the United States and Canada, Fantastic Four was projected to take the top spot and earn around $40–50 million on its opening weekend, which would be lower than the opening weekend gross of 2005's Fantastic Four ($56.1 million) and 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ($58.1 million).[100][105][106][107] The film made $2.7 million from late night previews on the night of August 6.[108] On its opening day, Fantastic Four earned $11.3 million (including Thursday's preview screenings), lower than early tracking,[109][110] and $25.6 million on its opening weekend,[111] marking one of the lowest openings of all time for a big-budget superhero movie which box office analysts have attributed to poor critical reviews and audience reception. It came in second place behind Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation ($28.5 million).[112] When asked by The New York Times to comment on the weekend box office results, Chris Aronson, Fox's president of domestic distribution said: "There's not much to say. I have never seen a confluence of events impact the opening of a movie so swiftly," referring to negative reviews and a renegade tweet by Trank that blamed the studio for the poor reviews.[104] In the film's second weekend, it grossed $8 million, dropping 69% from the opening weekend.[113] The Hollywood Reporter described the film as the second biggest box office failure of 2015, behind Tomorrowland, estimating the film's losses to be between $80 million and $100 million.[114][115]
Outside North America, the film grossed $33.1 million on its opening weekend from 43 countries from 8,996 screens, coming at second place behind Rogue Nation at the international box office. While it underperformed in certain countries, it opened at number one in 20 countries. Its top openings were in Mexico ($5.29 million), the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta ($4.19 million), France ($3.85 million), Venezuela ($3.81 million) and Brazil ($3 million).[116][117]
Critical response[edit]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 9% of 263 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Dull and downbeat, this Fantastic Four proves a woefully misguided attempt to translate a classic comic series without the humor, joy, or colorful thrills that made it great."[1] As of 2023, it is the lowest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes out of all theatrical films based on Marvel Comics properties.[118] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 27 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[119] It received a "C−" rating from audiences surveyed by CinemaScore on a scale of A+ to F, which was referred to by Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter as "the worst grade that anyone can remember for a marquee superhero title made by a major Hollywood studio."[120]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave Fantastic Four one star out of four, calling it "the cinematic equivalent of malware" and "worse than worthless."[121] Jim Vejvoda of IGN criticized the film as "aesthetically drab and dramatically inert", said that the two previous Fantastic Four films "seem better in hindsight", and that the film did not show enough character development between the members of the team. He also criticized the blatant continuity errors, such as Mara's changing hair style and color and Teller's disappearing facial hair, brought on by the film's reshoots.[122] Brian Lowry of Variety found the film to be a technical improvement over the 2005 release but criticized its uneven pacing and writing, saying "Ultimately, Fox's stab at reviving one of its inherited Marvel properties feels less like a blockbuster for this age of comics-oriented tentpoles than it does another also-ran—not an embarrassment, but an experiment that didn't gel."[123] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter felt the film is "like a 100-minute trailer for a movie that never happens." He called the film "maddeningly lame and unimaginative" in addition to criticizing the visual style as a "dark, unattractive, gloomy mode."[124] In a review for Screen Daily, Tim Grierson criticized the film's narrative as nonsensical, making the film "progressively more muddled and tedious."[125] A.O. Scott of The New York Times noted that it "feels less like a tale of superhero beginnings than like a very long precredit opening sequence."[126]
David Jenkins of Little White Lies, on the other hand, praised Fantastic Four for its stylistic deviation from other recent superhero films, and argued that the film's characters "make decisions which may appear to lack credibility, but the writing works hard to show you why these people are doing what they are doing – and it's not just haphazard patching work, but believable reasons which build on the themes of the movie".[127] James Berardinelli gave the film 2.5/4 stars, saying Fantastic Four is "no better or worse [than] the other superhero movies of 2015", welcoming the dark tone, and praising the performance of the main actors. Berardinelli concluded that as a superhero film, "it falls into the 'adequate' range of the spectrum—neither memorable nor forgettable."[128] Jake Wilson of The Sydney Morning Herald gave the film 3/5 stars, praising the Fantastic Four's transformation sequence and Teller's performance, and wrote: "what distinguishes the film's approach is the faith it puts in its young lead actors".[129]
Yahoo! Movies,[130] Toronto Sun,[131] Indiewire,[132] and Rolling Stone have included Fantastic Four in their lists compiling the worst films of 2015.[133]
Home media[edit]
Fantastic Four was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on Blu-ray and DVD on December 15, 2015.[142] It was later released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on March 1, 2016.[143] It was also released on the Disney+ streaming service in June 2020, the first Marvel movie produced by Fox to be on the service.[144]
As of February 2016, Fantastic Four had sold nearly 400,000 DVD copies and 350,000 Blu-ray copies, for a total of 750,000 copies. As of December 2018, the film had grossed $13.4 million on home video.[145]
Future[edit]
Cancelled sequel[edit]
Before Fantastic Four began filming, 20th Century Fox announced plans for a sequel with a scheduled release date of July 14, 2017.[146] Fox then rescheduled the release for June 2, 2017, with War for the Planet of the Apes taking its place on the July 14, 2017, slot.[147] It changed the release date again to June 9, 2017, to be two weeks after Star Wars: The Last Jedi's initial scheduled release date of May 26, 2017.[148]
Due to Fantastic Four's poor box office performance, negative reviews, and poor home media sales, Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter said that it "throws into question whether Fox will move ahead with a sequel".[114] Phil Hoad of The Guardian said it would "be interesting" to see if Fox proceeds with a sequel and if it keeps the "gritty-on-paper" tone, noting that if Fox did not produce another film by 2022, the rights would revert to Marvel Studios.[149][150][151][152] Despite the performance, Fox still planned to produce a sequel, with Simon Kinberg working on the project.[153] Drew McWeeny of HitFix said that while a sequel may not be produced in time for the 2017 release date, Fox would likely attempt to salvage the franchise, working with Trank's defined vision and adding adjustments to it.[154] While Kinberg affirmed his intent to make a sequel, Kate Mara said that a sequel looked unlikely, despite expressing interest in reprising her role as Susan Storm.[153] In September 2015, Tommy Wiseau expressed enthusiasm in directing a sequel, having personal admiration for the film.[155]
The sequel was removed from Fox's release schedule in November 2015.[156] In May 2016, Kinberg reaffirmed his intent to make another Fantastic Four film with the same cast.[157] Later that month, Toby Kebbell stated he had no interest in reprising his role as Dr. Doom if a sequel were to happen.[158] In August, both Miles Teller and Kate Mara said they were open to returning for a sequel.[159][160] When asked by Collider whether they would make another Fantastic Four film, Kinberg answered: "I have no idea. I think the truth is we would not do another Fantastic Four movie until it was ready to be made. One of the lessons we learned on that movie is we want to make sure to get it 100% right, because we will not get another chance with the fans".[161]
Matthew Vaughn has expressed interest in directing a new version of Fantastic Four himself as an apology regarding the performance of 2015 version.[162] Concept artist Alexander Lozano revealed that Trank's iteration of the Fantastic Four were considered for cameo appearances in Tim Miller's take on Deadpool 2.[163]