Fox "Will Find Ways" to Use Fantastic Four

[StewShearerOld]

Fox "Will Find Ways" to Use Fantastic Four

Fox could lose as much as $60 million on its latest Fantastic Four film.

In case you hadn't heard, Fox's most recent attempt at launching a Fantastic Four franchise has been something of a disaster. Panned <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/moviesandtv/reviews/cinemarter/14417-Fantastic-Four>by critics, insulted by <a href=http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/07/fantastic-four-josh-trank-tweet>its own director and a bomb at the box office, the new movie is easily one of the biggest failures in the history of modern superhero films. Considering the fact that this is the second time Fox has fumbled its efforts to create a successful Fantastic Four franchise, you might think that this latest failure would be enough to convince the company that it's time to give up. If recent comments from Fox executives are any indicator however, that won't be happening anytime soon.

Speaking about the movie recently, Fox's president of domestic distribution Chris Aronson admitted that the Fantastic Four, for a variety of reasons, has under-performed. "There's not much to say," he said. "I have never seen a confluence of events impact the opening of a movie so swiftly." When questioned about the future of franchise however, Aronson was firm in describing Fox's intention to hold onto and make future use of the Fantastic Four. "We love these characters, and we will find ways to make use of them." Speaking <a href=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-fantastic-four-flops-814123>to another publication he further added that moviegoers "have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe."

While we obviously have to assume that Aronson's telling the truth, it's honestly hard not to question whether Fox will really stick its guns as the depth of Fantastic Four's failure becomes more apparent. Unless the film's fortunes change, recent reports are estimating that company could stand to lose as much <a href=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fantastic-four-could-lead-60-814324>as $60 million on its production. Fox might not get too broken up over a critical lashing, but we're willing to bet that losing large sums of money is something that could raise its proverbial brow. While we won't be getting our hopes up, maybe this could be what finally convinces Fox that the best way to "use" the franchise would be to take a page <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139777-Marvel-and-Sony-Confirm-That-Spider-Mans-Joining-the-Marvel-Cinematic-Universe>from Sony's playbook and make a deal with Disney and Marvel.

Source: <a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/movies/fantastic-four-lacks-superpowers-at-box-office.html?_r=2>New York Times


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[CaptainMarvelous]

"We love these characters"? How. Fucking. DARE you, Fox. How dare you claim to love the Fantastic Four then proceed to butcher them beyond all recognition!? I just.... GAH!

 

[Robyrt]

And by "We love these characters", we mean, "We're still holding out hope for an X-Men vs. Doctor Doom mega-hit".

 

[Worgen]

The reason the marvel movies work is they embrace the weirder things that the comics do. It seems like the fantastic 4 movies are trying to redo the 'realism' of the nolan batman movies, a thing which only kind of worked.

 

[Jeteye]

"moviegoers have a lot to look forward to in OUR Marvel universe" I'm pretty sure the issue is coming from the fact that your trying to reinterpret the Marvel universe as your own. The Marvel universe isn't something Fox should be trying to re-imagine own and people clearly don't want to see their take of the Marvel universe. Fox, stop trying to make these things yours and leave them to the guys who actually make good superhero movies.

 

[direkiller]

I don't quite get the need to hold on to movie rights like this.
Sell back the movie rights, and invents the money somewhere else, wasting money on crappy films just to hold on to movie rights that might be worth something someday just seems silly.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Umm, we know too much, Mr Fox spokesperson. Do you not know that we know what you know? Or are you really just talking to the fickle masses? You cannot speak these words while we know, they are empty words. I care little for ruined movies and superheroes while there are still so many other great films to enjoy, but I am surprised at your denial. If it is indeed that, a company that builds its' business on illusion would most probably have no qualms in deluding the public and press outside of theatres.
You are not as sly as your name implies.

 

[Bindal]

The reason the marvel movies work is they embrace the weirder things that the comics do. It seems like the fantastic 4 movies are trying to redo the 'realism' of the nolan batman movies, a thing which only kind of worked.

Batman also worked because they had something they could do mostly realistic to begin with. Closest thing to the non-realistic thing was the first movie with "immortal guy" and even that has not been confirmed in anyway. Everything else? Sticking somewhat to the roots while giving it a more realistic LOOK.
Fantastic Four... well, considering who the leads are, attempting something even remotely realistic there is bound to fail already. That's why the Marvel movies work and why their own X-Men movies work, they embrace that they're based on comic books. They might not go as silly as their source, but they go along with it anyway.

 

[LordLundar]

I don't quite get the need to hold on to movie rights like this.
Sell back the movie rights, and invents the money somewhere else, wasting money on crappy films just to hold on to movie rights that might be worth something someday just seems silly.

It's a desperation move really. Getting rid of the rights they have means they have to come up with original concepts that if it tanks they can't blame anyone but themselves. Keeping the license is an escape clause where they can say that the source material is the problem, not them.

To add if they turn over the rights back to Disney then they'll make an F4 movie which given the track record lately will mean it will be a thousand (I think I got that factor right, maybe I lowballed it heavily) times better than what they've been putting out. When that happens watch Fox's stocks go into free fall as investors realize the problem is the studio.

 

[RJ 17]

At this point, the ball is actually in Marvel's court, and they don't have to play if they really don't want to. All they have to do is wait Fox out due to the "failure to make a movie in x years" clause of the agreement. Right now the best thing Fox could do with the franchise is try to sell it back to Marvel, but Marvel doesn't have to buy. After all, they've already discontinued the comic series which effectively means that they've officially "disowned" the Fantastic Four.

So yeah, either Fox says "We don't want to take another $60 kick to the nuts, we're not making another movie" and Marvel gets it back automatically, or Fox drowns in their own pride and spite and keeps pumping out shit-sandwich movies that they're forced to eat, then smile and say "Mmmmm, soooo delicious!"

No, Fox, it's not delicious. You're eating a shit-sandwich, and I don't think you'll find a doctor on this planet that will tell you that eating shit-sandwiches is healthy behavior.

 

[Casual Shinji]

"We love these characters, and we will find ways to make use of them."

Translation - "We love money, and we'll find a way to squeeze some out of this fucking franchise yet!"

Keep fighting those windmills, Fox.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

At this point, the ball is actually in Marvel's court, and they don't have to play if they really don't want to. All they have to do is wait Fox out due to the "failure to make a movie in x years" clause of the agreement.

Yeah, thats probably not going to happen. Both this Fantastic Four movie and Amazing Spider-Man 1 were made specifically to adhere to that clause and hold on to the rights for a little longer. Spider-Man has gone into joint custody but if they don't do the same with the F4 then in all likelihood they'll just make another one five or so years down the line but for a cheaper budget so their losses aren't so great

 

[RJ 17]

At this point, the ball is actually in Marvel's court, and they don't have to play if they really don't want to. All they have to do is wait Fox out due to the "failure to make a movie in x years" clause of the agreement.

Yeah, thats probably not going to happen. Both this Fantastic Four movie and Amazing Spider-Man 1 were made specifically to adhere to that clause and hold on to the rights for a little longer. Spider-Man has gone into joint custody but if they don't do the same with the F4 then in all likelihood they'll just make another one five or so years down the line but for a cheaper budget so their losses aren't so great

That's what I was getting at: for reasons of pride and spite, Fox is clinging to FF as tightly as it can even though it's a stone around their neck that's just dragging them down. The smart thing to do would be to try to sell the franchise back to Marvel (or at the very least work out a partnership deal like Sony did with Spider-Man), but that's what I was talking about: at this point Marvel doesn't even have to make an offer. Fox will either keep shooting itself in the foot with these movies "because reasons", or they're be forced to just give up and let it lapse back to Marvel automatically.

The over-all point: Fox is just being a bunch of prideful dicks regarding the FF franchise, and now they're reaping what they've sown.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

The reason the marvel movies work is they embrace the weirder things that the comics do. It seems like the fantastic 4 movies are trying to redo the 'realism' of the nolan batman movies, a thing which only kind of worked.

I wish Marvel did this in Iron man 3 instead of generic white business suit dude.

 

[Worgen]

The reason the marvel movies work is they embrace the weirder things that the comics do. It seems like the fantastic 4 movies are trying to redo the 'realism' of the nolan batman movies, a thing which only kind of worked.

I wish Marvel did this in Iron man 3 instead of generic white business suit dude.

I was fine with the white color business dude since it was apparent that he was pissed at Stark, who is really kind of a douch. But I do wish they had let Pepper Pots keep the powers she got in the movie, that would add a really interesting dynamic to the whole thing.

 

[Gorrath]

The reason the marvel movies work is they embrace the weirder things that the comics do. It seems like the fantastic 4 movies are trying to redo the 'realism' of the nolan batman movies, a thing which only kind of worked.

I wish Marvel did this in Iron man 3 instead of generic white business suit dude.

I was fine with the white color business dude since it was apparent that he was pissed at Stark, who is really kind of a douch. But I do wish they had let Pepper Pots keep the powers she got in the movie, that would add a really interesting dynamic to the whole thing.

I wish she had too, since that would have made her far more interesting as a character and an interesting new hero to join the Avengers. Alas I cannot agree with the big bad. Iron Man 1's big bad was a white business dude, Iran Man 2's villains were a white business dude backing up a white dude who was mad at not getting to be a business dude and Iron Man 3's villain was a white business dude. That's primarily what made IM3 suck for me, it was the same rehashed story 3 times.

Edited for clarity

 

[Worgen]

The reason the marvel movies work is they embrace the weirder things that the comics do. It seems like the fantastic 4 movies are trying to redo the 'realism' of the nolan batman movies, a thing which only kind of worked.

I wish Marvel did this in Iron man 3 instead of generic white business suit dude.

I was fine with the white color business dude since it was apparent that he was pissed at Stark, who is really kind of a douch. But I do wish they had let Pepper Pots keep the powers she got in the movie, that would add a really interesting dynamic to the whole thing.

I wish she had too, since that would have made her far more interesting as a character and an interesting new hero to join the Avengers. Alas I cannot agree with the big bad. Iron Man 1's big bad was a white business dude, Iran Man 2's villains were a white business dude backing up a white dude who was mad at not getting to be a business dude and Iron Man 3's villain was a white business dude. That's primarily what made IM3 suck for me, it was the same rehashed story 3 times.

Edited for clarity

I think the reason I was fine with it in the third movie was because it worked best in the third. It didn't make much sense in the first one and I recall it being sloppy in the second. But yeah, they could have come up with a more creative villain, although I did really enjoy the subversion of the Mandarin.

 

[Gorrath]

The reason the marvel movies work is they embrace the weirder things that the comics do. It seems like the fantastic 4 movies are trying to redo the 'realism' of the nolan batman movies, a thing which only kind of worked.

I wish Marvel did this in Iron man 3 instead of generic white business suit dude.

I was fine with the white color business dude since it was apparent that he was pissed at Stark, who is really kind of a douch. But I do wish they had let Pepper Pots keep the powers she got in the movie, that would add a really interesting dynamic to the whole thing.

I wish she had too, since that would have made her far more interesting as a character and an interesting new hero to join the Avengers. Alas I cannot agree with the big bad. Iron Man 1's big bad was a white business dude, Iran Man 2's villains were a white business dude backing up a white dude who was mad at not getting to be a business dude and Iron Man 3's villain was a white business dude. That's primarily what made IM3 suck for me, it was the same rehashed story 3 times.

Edited for clarity

I think the reason I was fine with it in the third movie was because it worked best in the third. It didn't make much sense in the first one and I recall it being sloppy in the second. But yeah, they could have come up with a more creative villain, although I did really enjoy the subversion of the Mandarin.

I can see why you'd be into it in that case. I really didn't like the subversion, especially because it all just came back around to, "No seriously, white business dudes are evil. Repent of your white business dude ways." I admit I'd probably have liked it better if this hadn't been what the first two were about, but taken as a trio it's evil white business dude becomes hero by beating up other white business dudes for three movies. Actually, I think I might still have disliked IM3, mostly because the villain's motivations made no sense whatsoever to me. His whole revenge plot seemed more than a little wasted given how much money and power he had. By the time he gets around to messing with Stark, he's pretty much achieved everything that he felt Stark had had a hand in denying him. Sorry, didn't mean to rant.

 

[Pyrian]

Iron Man fights evil business dudes because he IS (or at least was) an evil business dude, and the villains are stand-ins for his own issues.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Fox, you could try learning from your mistakes. That would probably help a whole lot. And then sit down and decide what moviegoers and fans really want from a Fantastic 4 movie. Not what 'general knowledge' says, not what 'research' says, not what the suits say. Figure those two things out, and you might be able to pull something off. Eventually. Probably. I don't know.

I mean, you did okay with First Class and Days of Future Past, so...try a little bit here?