Fox’s reboot of Fantastic Four is currently gunning for the title of ‘most universally hated comic book movie.’ Since it opened last Thursday, it has received the worst reviews of any Marvel film, was disavowed by its director Josh Trank, had approximately $10 million shaved off its opening box office due to Trank’s comments, and… well, that’s bad enough, right?
The biggest kick in the teeth about the flop that is Fantastic Four is down to the potential, and that’s because it had buckets of it. A studio that’s struck gold repeatedly with the X-Men and a filmmaker who hit it big with sort-of superhero movie Chronicle, the project looked fantastic on paper yet turned into cinematic crud on the screen. A large part of that is thought to be due to disharmony between Trank and the studio, who eventually wrangled control of the movie out of his hands. As a result, the finished product is an uneven mess that’s riding one of the worst Rotten Tomatoes ratings in comic book history.
However, not all is lost for those keen to see what could have been. The folks at Collider got their mitts on a behind-the-scenes B-roll clip that’s worth checking out to see how the movie was progressing mid-shoot.
In the clip, Reed Richards’ flying car can be spotted under a dust sheet in the background of certain scenes and as a major component of one sequence featuring Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan’s characters taking it for a spin. It’s disheartening to see evidence of a greater, or potentially better, movie within the scrappy remnants of what Fox decided to release.
One movie journalist, Dave Gonzalez of Latino Review (via /Film), has assembled an entire gallery of images on his Twitter (which you can see below), pointing out the vast amount of screenshots from the trailers that aren’t in the movie.
The sheer quantity of sequences and moments suggested points toward an entirely different cut than the one currently showing in cinemas worldwide. With the amount of interest generated by the promise of Trank’s “original vision,” will Fox ever swallow its pride and release a director’s cut? It’s unlikely, especially as Trank himself laid the blame for the film’s failure at the studio’s feet.
Marvel’s First Family are still on Fox’s 2017 slate for a sequel, but those rumors of Deadpool 2 stealing its spot seem to be a much better option financially. Of cours,e if Fox took the time to read Max Landis’ four-page Fantastic Four script teaser, they might hire him for Fantastic Four 2 instead.