Can 'Fantastic Four' rise above bad buzz?
The road to the big screen for Fantastic Four has been as rocky as the Thing’s skin.
The latest cinematic launch of Marvel Comics’ “First Family,” the comic-book superhero group that debuted in 1961 as a predecessor to the Avengers and X-Men, has brought news of behind-the-scenes trouble, fan vitriol, media stumbles and lots of skepticism.
If anything, the new film in theaters Friday will test the old adage “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
“It's challenging when a reboot comes out only a few years after a previous version, as some fans will have a strong association with that film,” says Fandango.com correspondent Tiffany Smith, referring to director Tim Story’s Fantastic Four movies in 2005 and 2007 that weathered mixed reviews to have moderate success at the box office. (Both earned more than $132 million domestically.)
Plus, she adds, “it’s a crowded market for superhero movies this year, and fans really expect something new and fresh.”
It was director Josh Trank (Chronicle) and his emotional grounding of the material that won over producer Simon Kinberg — in Fantastic Four, a trip to an alternate dimension gives new powers and problems to stretchy Reed Richards (Miles Teller), invisible Sue Storm (Kate Mara), fiery Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan) and rock monster Ben Grimm, aka the Thing (Jamie Bell).
But the Hollywood Reporter reported that Trank’s behavior was erratic and isolated during filming, while Variety claimed a rift between him and Kinberg. Trank, who recently departed an upcoming Star Wars Anthology movie, refuted those "malicious" rumors to the Los Angeles Times in June. (Trank was not available for comment.)
In addition, the release date has changed three times: Originally scheduled for March 6, Fantastic Four then moved to June 19 before landing on this Friday. Just last month, Trank also cancelled the 3-D conversion of the movie at the 11th hour — in a statement, the director said he wanted the visuals to "remain as pure as possible for the audience."
Fandom found issues with the on-screen product. Johnny Storm, a blonde-haired white guy in the comic books, became Sue’s African-American adopted brother in the new movie, causing enough of a ruckus for Jordan to write an essay in Entertainment Weekly responding to Internet trolls. People mockingly wondered why the Thing wasn't wearing any pants in the movie's trailer. And Toby Kebbell angered some when he said that his version of longtime villain Doctor Doom would be an antisocial computer programmer rather than the megalomaniacal dictator from the comics.
“I’ve read tons of stuff about this movie — about every movie — and the comic-book world, there is so much speculation, some right and some wrong,” says Kinberg.
The most troubling sign is that Fantastic Four didn't screen early for critics, “which typically means the studio doesn't want responses to the movie flooding Twitter ahead of release,” explains Scott Beggs, managing editor of movie site Film School Rejects. (The studio 20th Century Fox had no comment.)
The cast's current media tour hasn't helped much. They had a cringe-worthy interview with an Atlanta radio station's morning-show hosts, and Teller stated in an interview with the BBC that he and his co-stars hadn't seen the final movie yet and "rarely are films of this size critically well received.”
That's false, says Uproxx senior entertainment writer Mike Ryan. "Most superhero movies these days wind up with positive scores on (review site) Rotten Tomatoes."
Other movies have bounced back from similar backstage troubles — for example, Marvel's Ant-Man lost its original director Edgar Wright weeks before filming began last year, and it’s racked up a respective $132 million since its release July 17.
Another positive for Fantastic Four is its impressive cast of thespians, Smith says. “They are all indie darlings and we haven't seen a big superhero film helmed by actors like this before.”
Film buffs may follow all the rumors and various news bits surrounding a major Hollywood production, but because that’s such a small part of the mainstream audience, don’t count Fantastic Four down and out yet, according to Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. All that bad buzz may turn out to be simply noise.
“Let’s just give the movie a chance and let the fanboys and fangirls decide," he says.