Fantastic Four director reminds us all not every superhero movie is a hit

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Over the weekend CAPTAIN MARVEL made more money in its debut than all of the other top five movies of the year have made in their whole runs so far, proving why Hollywood is busy investing in every single superhero property they can find over, say, anything else. Whether you invest a little and get a lot (DEADPOOL) or invest a lot and get soooo much more (AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR), recent years have proved there’s no way a comic book movie could flounder…a notion FANTASTIC FOUR director Josh Trank hilariously smacked to the ground on Twitter over the weekend.

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The director of the 2015 reboot of Marvel’s first family took to Twitter yesterday to present a blunt reminder that there are major superhero flicks that can absolutely tank. The tweet came in response to filmmaker Joseph Kahn’s (BODIED) very understandable thought that “No superhero movie fails.” Trank’s response speaks for itself.

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Designed as a more down-to-earth version of the superhero team after the campy movies from the early aughts, the new FANTASTIC FOUR was meant to launch a whole new series of movies (as everyone initial superhero seems to be).  After reports began to swirl of a troubled production and Fox not being happy with what Trank was doing, people became much more unsure of this new take on the characters before it even hit theaters. And, turns out, we were all right to be cautious. The final product was a murky, glum, aimless and boring flick with absolutely nothing fantastic in sight. Screened for critics a mere two days before release, the reviews were disastrous and the movie made a paltry $27 million opening weekend, getting hit hard in the following weeks. In the end, FOUR made $56 million domestically ($167 million globally) off a $120 million budget and got clobbered by critics.

So, yes, sometimes superhero movies can fail, and often spectacularly. Trank has not been shy in admitting the movie was not what he intended, but he did post a tweet (via EW) during the movie’s release, saying, “A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would’ve received fantastic reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s the reality though.”

Trank returns to the big screen with the Al Capone movie FONZO with Tom Hardy this year.