Fox-Gate Versus Trank-Gate: Production Timeline.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Fantastic Four
TrollInTheDungeon — 10 years ago(August 10, 2015 02:29 PM)
Now that this crapfest is out, I'm going to do another one of these threads and reserve three posts, because I'm running out of room in the other thread.
PRE-PRODUCTION:Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer
is a marginal financial success for Fox, but is a critical dud overall. Plans to create a sequel to that
Fantastic Four
movie and a
Silver Surfer
spinoff are both brought up between 2007 and 2009, but neither project goes anywhere.- Disney officially acquires Marvel for $4 billion. After Disney announced its plans to greatly expand the then-fledgling Marvel Cinematic Universe with a wide variety of properties, Fox announces plans to reboot the
Fantastic Four
property. However, no real progress is made on the film until 2014. - When Fox first alluded to the casting, which was when Bruce Willis and Kiefer Sutherland were alluded as potential choices for Ben Grimm, other top picks included Adrien Brody as Mr. Fantastic, Alice Eve as Sue Storm, Kevin Pennington as Johnny Storm, and Stephen Moyer as Doctor Doom. Prospective directors included James McTeigue, Joe Carnahan, and David Yates.
- Josh Trank is hired to direct the reboot after
Chronicle
proves to be a sleeper hit. - The rights for Fox to make a
Daredevil
movie expire. Disney offers Fox an extension for their project - which has work on it underway - in exchange for the rights of certain Cosmic Marvel characters that Marvel Studios does not own, such as Silver Surfer and Galactus. Fox callously refuses the deal to part ways with Cosmic Marvel characters (even though they do not plan to use said characters again) and Disney gains
Daredevil
, which they turn into a critically-acclaimed Netflix series two years later. - Fox announces plans to create a competing Marvel Cinematic Universe with the
X-Men
and the
Fantastic Four
after
The Avengers
is a huge box office success. - Rumors that the role of the Human Torch is being given to Michael B. Jordan - without anyone else being tested for the part - spread. These are eventually proven to be true. Complaints about this casting decision begin. Aside from Michael B. Jordan, the entire cast was hired mere weeks before filming began.
- Miles Teller, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell are cast in the film as Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and the Thing. Everyone and their mother criticizes these cast choices, and fans begin to express complete disdain for the reboot. However, anyone who criticizes Michael B. Jordan's earlier casting in the film - be it for the proof of simple nepotism, the unexplained relationship to Kate Mara's character, or simply not liking him in the part - is childishly labeled as a "racist" by the media, with supporters of the film following suit (and while there are
some
racists, that's not comic book fandom - that's just the world we live in). - Right after the backlash against Michael B. Jordan's casting hits, Josh Trank tweets a picture of the FF's Human Torch meeting Jim Hammond, the Android Human Torch from the "Timely Comics" era. It is confirmed that the real Trank was the one who posted this.
- When asked about the role by the paparazzi, Michael B. Jordan tells them that complaining fans will "go see [the movie] anyway", while looking fairly smug.
- Word that team might not even be called "The Fantastic Four" in the movie also comes up.
- Bleeding Cool made a report suggesting that they were looking to fire Josh Trank, dump the cast he picked, and abandon his script shortly before production began. New directors were apparently sighted. Fox presumably kept going with Trank due to running short on time to reboot the property.
- Fox announces a sequel to the reboot in an attempt to silence concerns people may have for the project, even with the financial stability of the reboot left uncertain.
PRODUCTION (EARLY WARNINGS): - The production of the movie begins.
- Josh Trank returned to Twitter in a bout of frustration. Trank tweeted out a picture of his dog's anus in response to fan backlash against the film make the rounds. The post was taken down quickly before anyone could screengrab it. Trank's Twitter account is subsequently deleted.
- Doctor Doom is announced as the film's villain, with the only major difference being that this time around, he might use the Doombots. (Oh, and Mole Man is apparently in the movie, too.)
- The "grounded and gritty, found-footage feel" approach to the film is detailed for the first time. This pisses innumerable Marvel fans off, many of which claim that this defeats the entire purpose of one of the most unrealistic Marvel franchises ever written.
- Fox's plans for a shared universe are shot dead by their own admission. Fox keeps bringing up plans to try and cross their own properties over for PR purposes, although no real evidence that Fox is going to follow up on a potential crossover is brought up at all.
- Producer Simon Kinberg expresses enthusiasm for the 3-D conversion of the film that is being planned.
- Josh Trank is hired to direct the s
- Disney officially acquires Marvel for $4 billion. After Disney announced its plans to greatly expand the then-fledgling Marvel Cinematic Universe with a wide variety of properties, Fox announces plans to reboot the
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TrollInTheDungeon — 10 years ago(August 10, 2015 02:30 PM)
PRE-RELEASE (IT JUST GETS WORSE):
- Shortly after the incident, another user from 4Chan claimed that the draft leaks were true, and that the January 2014 draft was further revised in March to be less expensive. It continues to suggest that Josh Trank had issues with Twentieth Century Fox and Simon Kinberg. The poster claims that the budget had been increased to add action and humor to the movie to make it more marketable, which came at the cost of the advertising budget. It also notes that Fox executives were disappointed in what they saw in the first rough cut.
- Michael B. Jordan goes to
Entertainment Weekly
to talk about how he's a martyr of being victimized by racist fanboys and a trendsetter for progressivism, even though he only got the part because he was pals with Josh Trank - not to mention that Marvel Studios has included a number of black characters in their setting already. Bear in mind that, at this point, most people have gotten over the idea behind the race change and are just pissed that he got the gig for nepotistic/cronyistic reasons. - Fox pulls
Fantastic Four
(2005) and
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer
from digital distributors. - Michael B. Jordan makes a few statements in an interview that imply the movie is set in the MCU as opposed to being a complete standalone.
- Fox's
Hitman: Agent 47
is moved to release two weeks after
Fantastic Four
, suggesting that Fox is not confident in the movie's performance. - Several TV Spots start airing. Almost all of them consist of recycled footage from the first two trailers, with a scene of Sue Storm laughing at various "jokes" shown in the footage. Some of the footage is very clearly reversed. Oh, and a Kanye West song is thrown in a couple of the ads for some reason.
- Rumors that Fox is looking to hire Bryan Singer to direct the
Fantastic Four
sequel appear, followed by him returning to direct the hypothetical
X-Men/Fantastic Four
crossover. It should be noted that he has gone on record saying that
X-Men: Apocalypse
will be the last
X-Men
movie he will direct, making these rumors extremely unlikely. - The track names for the original soundtrack for the movie are released. The outline of the plot sounds nearly identical to the 2005 movie, with the exceptions of there being a flashback sequence at the beginning and a military battle sequence in the middle. The characters apparently do not gain their superpowers until halfway through the film.
- Josh Trank has an interview explaining that he was both anticipating controversy with his approach and that he didn't handle it well. In a heart-to-heart and totally necessary moment, he reveals that he was a fat kid with man-boobs. (Thanks for putting that mental image into my head. Yuck.) He said that he felt vindictive toward the world as a child, and that he suffered from depression. He also tries to pass off the movie as an "educational" experience to a young-adult audience, with his 31 years of wisdom.
- Josh Trank talks with Kevin Smith on his podcast to promote the film.
- Secondhand testimony from someone who worked on the film states that Matthew Vaughn was in charge of the movie in post-production. The same source stated that the editors of the film were told to ignore what Josh Trank had talked about previously - namely, the darker-and-edgier body horror take on the movie - in favor of standard superhero fare.
- An SDCC panel is held with the cast. Josh Trank actually shows up this time with Simon Kinberg, and says that he sees the movie as a follow-up to
Chronicle
. Pretty much no new information is revealed, and there is a lack of enthusiasm from the audience. (Interestingly, Toby Kebbell is referred to as playing "Victor Von Doom" instead of "Victor Domashev", possibly implying that the reshoots changed the character after backlash against "Blogger Doom".) - Josh Trank confirms that the film is not finished as of SDCC.
- Jamie Bell confirms that the movie will not have a mid-credits or post-credits scene.
- Toby Kebbell mentions that he would like to play Doctor Doom and fight the Avengers. His wish comes across as unlikely to happen, considering that Tom Holland had just been re-cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in spite of the former actor - Andrew Garfield - being readily available to reprise the role.
- Rumors circulate that there will be a 2020
Avengers/X-Men
crossover based on information revealed in the Sony leaks that were revealed at a later time. The
Fantastic Four
are not mentioned. Publicly, relations between Twentieth Century Fox and Disney/Marvel Studios have not improved. - Josh Trank confirms that the 3-D conversion was officially cancelled. He claimed that this was for artistic reasons (even though the studio clearly wanted it, and this is bound to diminish money made on ticket sales).
- The final Trailer and a variant are released a few days after SDCC. They are met with the least warm reception out of any footage released for the movie, and is greatly overshadowed by
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TrollInTheDungeon — 10 years ago(August 10, 2015 02:30 PM)
POST-RELEASE (THE SEQUELS ARE DOOMED):
- Various crew members state that Fox should be held accountable to the poor quality of the final product just as Josh Trank is being held accountable.
- The Thing's action sequence involving his assault on a terrorist compound was revealed to have been removed from the film due to various circumstances in the editing bay.
- Following negative reception to the film, Josh Trank's last scheduled podcast with Kevin Smith was unceremoniously cancelled.
- Josh Trank's combative behavior toward Kate Mara stemmed from the studio wanting her in the role while he disagreed. Trank also got into verbal spats with Miles Teller - who he did want to hire - and nearly got into a physical fight with the actor.
- Pirated copies of the film are released on YouTube. Fox does not take them down immediately, leaving some illegal copies of the film up for as long as several days.
Fant4stic
ends its second weekend with $42,129,974 domestically and $59,982,940 internationally. The movie was shown in 4,004 theaters this week. It ends up at the #4 spot.- A stunt double reveals some behind-the-scenes shots of the movie that shows that an alternate version of the action sequence with Doom was planned, though it was dropped during the reshoots.
- Details on Jeremy Slater and Max Landis's unused drafts for the film pop up online. Slater's draft was used as the basis of the film, but the script was vastly altered by Simon Kinberg and Josh Trank to the point where the final product only vaguely resembled Slater's original story. Max Landis claimed that he wanted the movie to be entirely an origin story, something that Fox apparently agreed to.
Fant4stic
ends its third weekend with $49,708,994 domestically and $79,986,175 internationally. The movie was shown in 2,581 theaters this week. It falls to the #10 spot, making less money than
Ant-Man
did on its sixth week. (
Ant-Man
was at the #8 spot on this particular week.)- Concept art of a more alien-looking Negative Zone, including an unused lair for Doctor Doom, was released online.
- Michael B. Jordan signs on to work on a movie based on the comic
Blood Brothers
, making it seemingly unlikely for him to return as the Human Torch should the sequel still be made.
Fant4stic
ends its fourth weekend with $52,745,496 domestically and $93,500,000 internationally. The movie was shown in 1,675 theaters this week. The movie continued to plummet to the #13 spot.- Stan Lee reveals in an interview that Fox did not consult with him at all about the property they were adapting.
The Hollywood Reporter
later mentions that Fox's losses are likely to be in the $80-100 million range as opposed to the initial prediction of a $60 million loss.- Conceptual visualizations of H.E.R.B.I.E. and the Fantasticar - both from Jeremy Slater's unused draft - appear.
- Tommy Wiseau, director of the "so-bad-it's-good" cult movie
The Room
expresses interest in directing the sequel if it ever happens. Yes, really.
Fant4stic
ends its fifth weekend with $54,422,916 domestically and $101,079,049 internationally. The movie was shown in 1,135 theaters this week. The movie ends the weekend on the #20 spot.- Kate Mara reveals that she has still not seen the film, and notes that the cast had each other's backs during production. Later on, she makes a joke about the movie's abysmal performance.
Fant4stic
ends its sixth weekend with $55,375,871 domestically and $105,400,000 internationally. The movie was shown in 676 theaters this week. The movie ends the weekend on the #25 spot.- When asked about the plans for the franchise after the movie bombed, Simon Kinberg claimed that he was weighing out his options. He stated that he was "hoping" that they could do a sequel, in stark contrast to the definite statement that they absolutely would be doing a sequel prior to production.
- Bryan Singer is confirmed to direct a
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
movie after finishing work on
X-Men: Apocalypse
, dispelling the rumors that he would work on the hypothetical sequel to
Fant4stic
.
Fant4stic
ends its seventh weekend with $55,714,045 domestically and $108,136,212 internationally. The movie was shown in 355 theaters this week. The movie ends the weekend on the #32 spot.- In spite of the backlash against his casting in
Fant4stic - along with his critically-panned performance - Michael B. Jordan publicly notes that he primarily wants to play characters that are originally white in the source material being adapted.
- Ryan Reynolds, the star of February 2016's
Deadpool
(another Twentieth Century Fox movie), publicly expresses distaste with
Fant4stic - namely mentioning concern that the movie could seriously damage to the cast's careers, especially Michael B. Jordan. Mark Millar, a key writer behind the
Ultimate Fantastic Four
comic that was allegedly used as an inspiration for the film - and a general supporter of Fox's Marvel movies - also expressed disappointment in the final product.
Fa
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WestAllenIsForever — 10 years ago(August 13, 2015 12:45 PM)
Great work! I have never read the comics but I know my brother was pissed about this reboot so I decided to dig into why that was/ why the movie bombed. Thank you for laying everything out on the table. It sounds like such a soap opera!
I've never beep a dying creature before. Do you feel things more deeply, I wonder?
-Dorian Gray -
Gojiman — 10 years ago(August 30, 2015 12:32 PM)
A bit off-topic, but y'know, it really bugs me when websites that list movie grosses don't clearly distinguish between the foreign gross and the total gross. They keep using "worldwide" for the latter, but sometimes they seem to mean the former.
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Gojiman — 10 years ago(September 09, 2015 01:24 PM)
Fant4stic
ends its fifth weekend with $54,422,916 domestically and $101,079,049 internationally. The movie was shown in 1,135 theaters this week. The movie ends the weekend on the #20 spot.
wow. It gained less than $2 million domestically and less than $8 million internationally from last weekend. This movie is definitely not long for the theater world. -
Gojiman — 10 years ago(September 13, 2015 07:54 PM)
Fant4stic
ends its sixth weekend with $55,375,871 domestically and $105,400,000 internationally. The movie was shown in 676 theaters this week. The movie ends the weekend on the #22 spot.
ho-ly mo-ly. It couldn't even make another million bucks domestically. That, my friends, is a dead movie walking. -
Gojiman — 10 years ago(September 20, 2015 10:35 AM)
Fant4stic
ends its seventh weekend with $55,714,045 domestically and $108,136,212 internationally. The movie was shown in 355 theaters this week. The movie ends the weekend on the #24 spot.
That is
beyond
pitiful. There is no chance in Hell this movie will recoup its budget at the box office. As you said, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey-hey-hey,
goodbye
!