Fantastic Four

[Matt_Black]

Given the abysmal critical and audience reception combined with the very low box office thus far, what do you think the future holds for Marvel's First Family? Will Fox try and reboot it, possibly with the one guy they work with who knows how to make a good comic book movie, Bryan Singer? Will they try for a deal with Disney/ Marvel similar to Sony's? Does anyone even care at this point?

 

[Sped2424]

Given the abysmal critical and audience reception combined with the very low box office thus far, what do you think the future holds for Marvel's First Family? Will Fox try and reboot it, possibly with the one guy they work with who knows how to make a good comic book movie, Bryan Singer? Will they try for a deal with Disney/ Marvel similar to Sony's? Does anyone even care at this point?

last option for me and i guess a lot of people

 

[Matt_Black]

Yeah, between the movies and various animated series, there really hasn't been a good track record with adapting the Fantastic Four for a wider audience. Certainly, the Alba films were relatively successful commercially, but when THAT is the high bar to cross...

On the plus side, expectations for the next FF will be so low that darn near any attempt will be seen as an improvement, unless FOX purposely tries to make an awful film.

 

[Dead2009]

On the plus side, expectations for the next FF will be so low that darn near any attempt will be seen as an improvement, unless FOX purposely tries to make an awful film.

You mean...like they did for this one just so they could maintain the rights to the franchise?

 

[networkpro]

You mean...like they did for this one just so they could maintain the rights to the franchise?

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner. Not the first time for this franchise, as there's a complete unreleased Roger Corman version from 1994 that was done exactly for that reason.

 

[RandomPrincess]

The director of the current film has heavily implied that Fox changed the movie a lot from his vision.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

If Fantastic Four is added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They should have Jennifer Morrison portray Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman for not only another reboot, but also guest starring in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

[doctornick]

This has bombed so spectacularly badly that it is tough to see Fox ever throwing more money at the franchise. I have read that they have 7 years to make another film before they lose the rights (like what happened with Daredevil for Fox) and the property is so toxic right now that I cannot imagine they would make yet another reboot in that time (and they obviously aren't doing a sequel for this film).

So, Fox is likely left with two realistic choices:
1. Do nothing, let the rights revert when the licensing deal ends
2. Trade/sell the FF rights back to Marvel. This could be for actual money (to help offset the losses of this film) or for other considerations.

Fox is trying to develop an X-Men related TV show, but needs Marvel's permission to do so. There very recently was an article discussion that plans are progressing for such a show. Given the timing, it seems likely or at least plausible that Fox and Marvel/Disney are considering swapping the FF rights in exchange for Fox being able to produce an X-Men show for TV. That would seem to be a win-win for both sides that would be palatable for the sharp pencil guys.

The FF would be far more useful for Marvel and the MCU then they are for Fox. The FF doesn't make much sense to cross-over with the X-Men but would be great with the Avengers and the rest of the MCU. If Marvel got the rights back in the short term, they probably wouldn't use the FF themselves right away, but could easily start incorporating secondary characters into the MCU -- Silver Surfer, Galactus, Kang, Super-Skrull. Maybe they'd make some mention of Latveria and Von Doom being the monarch.

 

[RandomPrincess]

I would think Fox would be looking to lend F4 back to Marvel as Sony has done with Spidey.

 

[doctornick]

I would think Fox would be looking to lend F4 back to Marvel as Sony has done with Spidey.

I think it would be the rights simply going back to Marvel, more similar to Daredevil than the sharing agreement with Spider-Man. At this point, despite their public posturing, I don't think Fox will want to have anything to do with making any more FF films. Any public statements of Fox still planning to make FF films or use the characters is just a negotiation ploy (keep in mind that Sony had ASM 3 and Sinister Six and the Aunt May spin-off "planned" right until the agreement with Marvel to co-produce a new Spider-Man).

 

[RandomPrincess]

Here is a non-spoiler review of F4 that seems to do a good job of braking down what went wrong with the film. I didn't see the film so I can't say.

 

[TB4244]

From Bleedingcool:
"After an onslaught of negative reviews and a dismal opening weekend box office, the future of the Fantastic Four is obviously in doubt. But don’t expect to see the characters revert back to Marvel any time soon. Fox’s chief of domestic distribution Chris Aronsontold THR:

While we’re disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe."

Oh goody...

 

[Matt_Black]

"While we’re disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe."

"We've got the X-Men characters, and Wolverine, and Deadpool, and some other X-Men characters... Ooh, and Wyatt Wingfoot! He hasn't been tainted by our crappy FF films yet! How about it, America? Are you all feeling a feel good movie about a Native American (we'll cast Johnny Depp) pilot finding himself in aerial adventures?"

 

[TB4244]

Will he have a dead bird on his head?

 

[Matt_Black]

Will he have a dead bird on his head?

No, he'll have H.E.R.B.I.E. That will lead up to the All-New, All-Different Fantastic Four Movie with the two of them, Wolverine (he was a member, check your back issue bin!), and... uh... Homer Simpson.

 

[Konacha]

Just hearing the first news of this movie, I knew F4 would be this bad since nothing was making sense. At this point FOX is using the movies to keep the rights to the series. Since the series is so damaged I'd imagine only Marvel could save them since we haven't really had a bad movie in the Marvel Universe of films. That being said, I also feel Marvel is mad at them since there is no comics out for them except for a few one-off series going on and even that is ending right now. I don't think we will see a real F4 movie in our lifetimes.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

So anyone have options of who would play the Fantastic Four if Marvel puts them in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

 

[doctornick]

From Bleedingcool:
"After an onslaught of negative reviews and a dismal opening weekend box office, the future of the Fantastic Four is obviously in doubt. But don’t expect to see the characters revert back to Marvel any time soon. Fox’s chief of domestic distribution Chris Aronsontold THR:

While we’re disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe."

Oh goody...

Eh. It's just a negotiating ploy. Everyone knows that Fox isn't touching the FF again for a long time; they surely aren't making a sequel to this film or incorporating these characters into their X-Men universe. What are they going to do: reboot it again even thought the first two efforts didn't go well? Fox isn't going to officially come out and say "we aren't going to do anything else with the FF rights" -- why would they when they will surely be negotiating with Marvel/Disney in the near future.

There are plenty of things Fox could try to get in return for the FF rights -- X-Men TV rights, increased merchandising revenue, decrease rights fees for X-Men, even cold hard cash to cover the losses from this FF film stinker (projected to be a loss of at least $60M!) -- whereas the FF rights themselves are basically worthless to Fox since they aren't going to do anything with them before they revert automatically to Disney. Who knows when an agreement will come, but I'd be pretty shocked if Marvel doesn't get the FF rights back sometime in the next few years. Both parties have too much to gain by coming to a mutually agreeable solution.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm not really sure why Marvel would entertain any negotiations unless they think Fox is dumb enough to intentionally try to further erode the Fantastic Four brand with more poor films. Marvel has plenty of films slated with the luxury of being able to just wait it out. Disney wanted the Spider-Man movies to continue because they pretty much gave those rights to Sony in exchange for their respective merchandise rights.

 

[Matt_Black]

Now here's a thought- Universal has the rights to Namor, but they seem perfectly content to sit on it. I've often thought they've just been holding out to trade them to either Marvel/ Disney or FOX, who could both conceivably use him. Since FOX is very unlikely at this point to try an FF movie again, to say nothing of using him in one, and it's unlikely that the current X-Men direction would fit him, that leaves Marvel. What could have been a bidding war is now just one customer. Once Aquaman comes out, depending on how it does, Namor might be worth even less to Universal. Either Aquaman is a success and Namor will be seen as a blatant attempt to cash in, or it will flop, and Hollywood will decree that underwater superhero films don't work.

Thoughts?