Simon Kinberg Reflects On Fantastic Four Failures, Working With Josh Trank

Even before Marvel’s First Family touched down in theaters, the deleted scenes, backroom drama and bloated, largely forgettable end product meant that Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four quickly became one of the biggest talking points of the summer. Despite harboring some semblance of hope for the big-budget reboot, the director’s origins story was an almighty flop both critically and commercially, and though Fox remains keen on the potential of a sequel, the creative team involved on the original are less so.

Case in point: Fox producer and writer Simon Kinberg, who was drafted in to help whip the screenplay into shape mid-way through production. Speaking in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kinberg reflected on the film’s shortcomings, revealing just how “disappointed” he was with the way it turned out.

Hindsight is, of course, 20-20, but it’s interesting to hear how the writer-producer looks back at Fantastic Four longingly, wondering what could have been had the stars aligned both behind the camera and in front.

“I haven’t really done a full diagnosis. It was a hard movie to make, but I’ve made a lot of hard movies. I do think that there is a great ‘Fantastic Four’ movie with that cast. But there’s so many different elements that need to come together perfectly,” he said. “It’s like a collaboration between all these strangers. And if there’s a few things that don’t go right, it’s hard to recover from. I went straight from that into [‘X-Men:] Apocalypse.’ I haven’t had a lot of time to decompress. I’m obviously disappointed with the way it turned out.”

Despite a pummelling from fans and critics, Kinberg has, at the very least, entertained ideas for another superhero outing, revealing that he would still collaborate with Josh Trank given the right circumstances.

“In the right context? Sure.” As for any chance of making another “Fantastic Four,” the closest the producer comes to an answer is, “…I really love a lot of people on that film and felt really close to the actors. Those are the guys whose faces are on the poster and are the most exposed. I hope we get to make more movies with them.”

Currently, the fate of the Fantastic Four sequel is very much in the hands of Fox, and what the studio has planned for Marvel’s First Family moving forward is anyone’s guess.