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Fantastic Four Movie... Reboot?


NorthRaider

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I personally feel like the "they're anachronistic in today's comics landscape" argument to be a copout.

Agreed. If you can't do a story about a superhero family, that is fun and exciting, then that's on the writer.
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1. Comic writers aren't writing this film so...???

2. There are great fantastic four comics to draw on so blaming comic writers is a bit of a cop-out too

The reaction to this movie is disappointing, such an awesome cast and director, I'm interested to see it tomorrow to find out what went so wrong

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The reaction to this movie is disappointing, such an awesome cast and director, I'm interested to see it tomorrow to find out what went so wrong

While I won't dispute that the cast is uber talented, I have to question calling Trank "awesome" at this point. He had one good movie so far... Not good enough for awesome in my book. At this point, too much is pointing to all of those rumors of production problems being true. It's probably a good thing that he "dropped out of" Star Wars.

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I smell studio interference.

I have no doubt the studio freaked out when fans online went apeshit early on and turned the internet into a Negative Zone far worse than the FF would have to face onscreen. If Trank is the kind of director who prefers his creative freedom (which is what it sounds like what he got with Chronicle and what he may have been promised here) then that kind of micro-managing isn't going to sit well with him. It also explains why he'd drop out of a Lucasfilm movie overseen by Disney and millions of equally rabid fans.

As for the future of the franchise, I heard rumors last year that the reason Fox penciled in a sequel date was because this movie allows the story to continue in a completely different alternate reality, making room for a new creative team but the same cast. That lends credence to recent reports that Bryan Singer has been asked to take over and maybe do an X-Men crossover.

Of course I look forward to judging the movie for myself but I'll admit to not being in a big hurry. I'm going on a family vacation Friday so maybe while we're out of town and have a rainy afternoon, we'll check it out. For what it's worth, I gave Tim Burton's Batman a 5 out of 10 so FF is in good company.

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I personally feel like the "they're anachronistic in today's comics landscape" argument to be a copout.

Agreed. If you can't do a story about a superhero family, that is fun and exciting, then that's on the writer.

As the Incredibles proved.

1. Comic writers aren't writing this film so...???

2. There are great fantastic four comics to draw on so blaming comic writers is a bit of a cop-out too

The reaction to this movie is disappointing, such an awesome cast and director, I'm interested to see it tomorrow to find out what went so wrong

No one suggested that they are. The article I linked to didn't discuss the film much (the writer hasn't seen it, but remains optimistic) but talks about the state of the FF in general. And, even when the FF have been a critical hit (Waid's run or Hickman's run come to mind), they haven't been a top seller. I think the last time the Fantastic Four was among Marvel's top selling titles was when John Byrne was on it... a long time ago. Even the Millar/Hitch team, coming of Ultimates, was a sales disappointment. So yes, Marvel has struggled creatively for years to find the right take on the FF, and even when they've gotten it right they still haven't been rewarded with an especially strong seller.

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I love to compare The Incredibles to the FF as much as the next critic but the big difference is that I didn't go into The Incredibles with any expectations beyond "This is a Pixar film directed by the guy who did The Iron Giant." Like many others, I walked out with even higher expectations of a Fantastic Four film but Bird's flick is still essentially a parody. It's the Galaxy Quest to Bill Shatner's Star Trek: The Final Frontier.

I've said from the beginning that maybe these films should be animated features. When Disney bought Marvel, my first thought was I wonder what Pixar will do with these properties! Turns out they want nothing to do with them but look at Big Hero 6. Yet another animated FF knockoff and it's not even true to the source material from what I've read but it was a success.

I'm beginning to think that certain aspects of the Marvel Universe should stick to other media. Daredevil is working really well on Netflix. Big-budget adventures like The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy demand the feature film treatment. Maybe what the FF needs is a cartoon. (And then they can be accused of knocking off The Incredibles and Big Hero 6.)

EIther way, this movie is going to have to bomb HARD in order for Fox to even consider giving rights back to Marvel. Trank brought it in under budget. The studio decided not to spend additional money on 3D conversion, which may have been a mistake considering how popular 3D is overseas. Marketing has been decent but not over the top. They've played it safe, safe enough to maybe keep that sequel date... which will be right around the time Pixar and Brad Bird release the sequel to The Incredibles!

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Fantastic Four did phenomenal numbers when Jim Lee was on so that was probably the last time they were a sales juggernaut and that was for a brief window. Iron Man comics were surviving solely on inertia for decades and look what happened there. Point is, things can change.

The biggest complaint I hear from Fantastic Four detractors is that the concept is too dated. The FF concept is exploration and family, and nobody can really defend their criticism when I ask how those two concepts are archaic. I do agree that the Lee/Kirby cover band act gets old after a while and they go to that well far too often. But these are great characters. Like, seriously great characters. Among Marvel's best. If you can't tell a good story or make a good movie with them, it's on you.

I've caught a glimpse of the future and the Marvel Studios Spider-Man project is going to bring Spidey back to the forefront, big time. It's going to do very, very well financially. Sony and Marvel will be happy. Fox may get a whiff of that cash and want in on some of that. Deals are altered and rewritten all the time, nothing is immune to change. So there is hope.

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Maybe what the FF needs is a cartoon.

I thought the one they had (on tv) was quite good -- FF World's Greatest Heroes -- but they cancelled it. :( The voices were great & their version of the Thing is my favorite. I think it was a joint US/Canadian deal.

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Superherohype has a review up that continues to explain why this movie doesn't deserve your money.

To no one in particular: If you see this movie, you're part of the problem. Your morbid curiosity and complacent attitude is just enough for this movie to make an inkling of a successful box office and will make Fox think they're on the right track so they'll try again and again and continue to shovel the shit right down your throat until you actually stop going to see these. Don't settle for mediocrity, don't give Fox your money and then be disappointed when they keep shoveling this garbage out. Show some restraint and you might get rewarded for it. Sony was smart enough to hand Spider-Man to Marvel, Fox won't hand a property off unless it's completely dead and that will never happen when you still go "just for the hell of it" or "to see what it's about".

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@PL: I think you're selling the Incredibles far, far short by calling it "a parody", which implies that you're taking the original concept and playing said concept for laughs. Incredibles is a homage to the FF, much like, say, Alan Moore's Supreme was a homage to Superman (and better then just about any Superman comic I can think of to come out in 30 years).

@Big Vis: Yeah, I think the same thing. How can "family of adventurers" be dated? Do we not have families any more? I think the problem is more that the FF is essentially an optimistic comic, and that doesn't fit in (or seem to fit in) with the supposedly sophisticated storytelling we have going on today. Reed Richards has been miswritten time and time again as being cold and detached, when really he's anything but. Hickman has a much, much better conception of the character then anyone else working in comics today. I have some problems with his run, but he certainly proved that you can write an FF comic that is relevant to today's landscape.

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You're right, HP. Homage is the more appropriate term. There was obviously a lot of love in that movie.

I always found it interesting that Brad Bird pitched it to WB first and they passed. It has a Challengers of the Unknown vibe to it, too. And of course "Elasti-Girl" had to be okayed for use by DC in the film but couldn't be used on merchandising, hence action figures named "Mrs. Incredible."But I digress.

We need to convince Bird to do a Fantastic Four movie. Although after Tomorrowland...

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You need to market FF to the same type of audience you would market Incredibles or Big Hero 6 to. The new movie just looks so dim and serious. I guarantee Marvel Studios/Disney could make it work. Use Franklin as a gateway character for the younger audience.

He's got a robot babysitter? Cool!

His dad accidentally let a dinosaur out of the time machine and now it's making a mess of the kitchen? Haha!

Dad can turn into a slide? Awesome!

You can make toys of HERBIE and whatever goofy gadgets they have. This stuff isn't hard. And that's not even getting into the unlimited possibilities you have with the core four's interactions.

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The movie is literally at 7% on RT and falling. Gonna be cool when it's Fantastic 4%. Also this movie is rated worse than Pixels, let that sink in for a second.

EDIT: Literally worse than Catwoman at this point. Just think about that.

Edited by Politician
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Well, Metacritic, which gives you a score more approximating how good a film is, rather than the percentage of critics who liked it, has it slightly higher than Pixels and Catwoman at this point, but not by much.

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EDIT: Lmao forget it.

In some other interesting spoilers:

The Negative Zone is called Planet Zero and Doom doesn't show up until 20 minutes before the end apparently.

Edited by Politician
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My girl wants to be cute and take me to see the movie because I'm a fan of Marvel. She doesn't get why I don't want to see the movie. She thinks it will be cool. She's part of the problem. She saw the Marvel logo and wants to see it. Tsk Tsk Tsk.

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Well, normally guys are stuck seeing films that make their girls cry. I guess turnabout would be fair play.

Is it bad if I cried when Optimus died? (Totes serious.)

PS - For the record, I hate chick flicks & the bf is glad. :)

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