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Is it Time to Worry About the Fantastic Four Movie?
http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/the-...-time-to-worry-about-the-fantastic-four-movie
New developments about the Fox Fantastic Four movie have us scratching our heads about what's going on...
Can you believe that in the fifty plus year history of the Fantastic Four that nobody has managed to really get it right on the big screen? That is, of course, unless you count The Incredibles, which nailed the spirit of the FF in ways that none of the movies that actually bore their name managed to do. The first attempt was the unfortunate, never-released (unless you're into the bootleg scene) Roger Corman produced version, then there were FOX's two big-budget endeavors, Fantastic Four (of course) and Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer. The latter two, while they were met with a reasonable amount of box-office success, failed to really inspire audiences, and the franchise just sort of faded away.
But if 20th Century Fox has proven anything in the last few years, it's that they know how to keep their cash cows on life support. Did anyone ever imagine that the X-Men franchise would get back on track after the critical disasters that were X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the commercial dud that was X-Men: First Class? But here we are, six months later, not only still enjoying X-Men: Days of Future Past, but anxiously anticipating X-Men: Apocalypse.
So when word first hit that they were rebooting the Fantastic Four and creating a shared universe (we're still trying to figure out which word has been more popular this year, "reboot" or "shared universe") between their two major Marvel properties, it sounded like a good idea. After all, the idea of a "shared universe" across franchises was still a pipe dream when the last Fantastic Four movie had been in theaters.
Fox recruited Josh Trank, the director of the generally well regarded found footage superhero film Chronicle (and the future director of a Star Wars spinoff movie) to helm the Fantastic Four reboot, with a screenplay by Simon Kinberg (he of both X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse), things looked bright.
But somewhere along the line, things appear to have gotten weird. We'll present you everything we know about the new Fantastic Four movie, and leave you to decide whether or not this is anything to worry about.
Let's start with the cast:
The Fantastic Four Movie Cast
Fox found their Fantastic Four cast in the form of Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell as Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards, Sue "Invisible Girl" Storm, Johnny "The Human Torch" Storm, and Benjamin "The Thing" Grimm, respectively. Particularly in the case of Reed Richards and Ben Grimm, the casting seems to skew younger than the traditional depictions of the characters, but that was quickly chalked up to this version of the story taking its influence from the Ultimate Fantastic Four comics rather than the traditional Marvel Universe.
Reg. E Cathey will play Dr. Franklin Storm, the father of Johnny and Sue, and likely the man who helps facilitate the acquisition of their powers. Toby Kebbell is the team's greatest enemy, Victor von Doom, while Tim Blake Nelson is Harvey Elder, the "eccentric and socially awkward scientist" who will eventually come to be known as the Mole Man.
So this is all fairly straightforward, right? After all, it's generally impossible to judge casting before we've seen a single frame of the movie. But that's part of the problem. We'll get to that in a minute.
The Fantastic Four Movie Story
Fantastic Four writer/producer Simon Kinberg has been plenty chatty about various details while out on the interview circuit discussing X-Men: Days of Future Past. As a result we've had lots of little hints dropped about the movie's story. All we seem to be able to glean so far is that it won't be based on any particular storyline from the comics. Nothing wrong with that. But, you see, when it comes to the rest of the movie, nobody can seem to get their stories straight.
A number of signs (including a leaked plot synopsis which Josh Trank promptly debunked) seem to point to an origin story a little different than the traditional Fantastic Four comics. Originally a group of astronauts (more or less) who get exposed to cosmic radiation, it sounds like the Four's powers may be extradimensional in nature this time around. We'll just let these excerpts from our own interview with Simon Kinberg take over here:
"We’re definitely telling a younger story that the original films did. It depends on what books you look at. There are some, like the Ultimate books, that tell this story. So it is an origin story of the Fantastic Four, and it does follow them before they really know what a superhero is."
He also describes this as "a coming of age story" and promises that their origin story will involve "some sort of scientific travel." Yes, that sounds like Ultimate Fantastic Four (the 2004 update of the FF story by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, and Adam Kubert) to us, too. Does this mean we're going to get a more monstrous Doctor Doom this time around, perhaps?
Initially FOX's intention was for their rebooted Fantastic Four universe to occupy the same world as their X-Men films, but in recent months, that suggestion has been walked back. In other words, don't expect any Reed Richards/Charles Xavier chess games any time in the future. For now, you can settle for the fact that X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn is one of the film's producers.
None of this sounds like a problem, right? We've gotten used to origin stories that pull from different versions of character history in our superhero movies. The problem is that, historically, the Fantastic Four, particularly during their undisputed greatest era (by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby...arguably the finest sustained run by any creative team in comic book history), are a family, and there's an element of fun, even whimsy, surrounding their adventures. The Four are, after all, a family. An out-there family, but a family nevertheless. If you're not familiar with their adventures, think of the most heroic moments of The Incredibles crossed with some of the most dimension-warping madness of recent Doctor Who, and we suppose you're in the ballpark.
But early on, Simon Kinberg promised that "We're approaching it in a much more realistic, grounded, science rather than science fiction way." Well, that's fair. It hasn't hurt the X-Men franchise any, right? But then, you see, virtually every member of the cast has said something worrisome or eyebrow raising.
http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/the-...-time-to-worry-about-the-fantastic-four-movie
New developments about the Fox Fantastic Four movie have us scratching our heads about what's going on...
Can you believe that in the fifty plus year history of the Fantastic Four that nobody has managed to really get it right on the big screen? That is, of course, unless you count The Incredibles, which nailed the spirit of the FF in ways that none of the movies that actually bore their name managed to do. The first attempt was the unfortunate, never-released (unless you're into the bootleg scene) Roger Corman produced version, then there were FOX's two big-budget endeavors, Fantastic Four (of course) and Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer. The latter two, while they were met with a reasonable amount of box-office success, failed to really inspire audiences, and the franchise just sort of faded away.
But if 20th Century Fox has proven anything in the last few years, it's that they know how to keep their cash cows on life support. Did anyone ever imagine that the X-Men franchise would get back on track after the critical disasters that were X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the commercial dud that was X-Men: First Class? But here we are, six months later, not only still enjoying X-Men: Days of Future Past, but anxiously anticipating X-Men: Apocalypse.
So when word first hit that they were rebooting the Fantastic Four and creating a shared universe (we're still trying to figure out which word has been more popular this year, "reboot" or "shared universe") between their two major Marvel properties, it sounded like a good idea. After all, the idea of a "shared universe" across franchises was still a pipe dream when the last Fantastic Four movie had been in theaters.
Fox recruited Josh Trank, the director of the generally well regarded found footage superhero film Chronicle (and the future director of a Star Wars spinoff movie) to helm the Fantastic Four reboot, with a screenplay by Simon Kinberg (he of both X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse), things looked bright.
But somewhere along the line, things appear to have gotten weird. We'll present you everything we know about the new Fantastic Four movie, and leave you to decide whether or not this is anything to worry about.
Let's start with the cast:
The Fantastic Four Movie Cast
Fox found their Fantastic Four cast in the form of Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell as Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards, Sue "Invisible Girl" Storm, Johnny "The Human Torch" Storm, and Benjamin "The Thing" Grimm, respectively. Particularly in the case of Reed Richards and Ben Grimm, the casting seems to skew younger than the traditional depictions of the characters, but that was quickly chalked up to this version of the story taking its influence from the Ultimate Fantastic Four comics rather than the traditional Marvel Universe.
Reg. E Cathey will play Dr. Franklin Storm, the father of Johnny and Sue, and likely the man who helps facilitate the acquisition of their powers. Toby Kebbell is the team's greatest enemy, Victor von Doom, while Tim Blake Nelson is Harvey Elder, the "eccentric and socially awkward scientist" who will eventually come to be known as the Mole Man.
So this is all fairly straightforward, right? After all, it's generally impossible to judge casting before we've seen a single frame of the movie. But that's part of the problem. We'll get to that in a minute.
The Fantastic Four Movie Story
Fantastic Four writer/producer Simon Kinberg has been plenty chatty about various details while out on the interview circuit discussing X-Men: Days of Future Past. As a result we've had lots of little hints dropped about the movie's story. All we seem to be able to glean so far is that it won't be based on any particular storyline from the comics. Nothing wrong with that. But, you see, when it comes to the rest of the movie, nobody can seem to get their stories straight.
A number of signs (including a leaked plot synopsis which Josh Trank promptly debunked) seem to point to an origin story a little different than the traditional Fantastic Four comics. Originally a group of astronauts (more or less) who get exposed to cosmic radiation, it sounds like the Four's powers may be extradimensional in nature this time around. We'll just let these excerpts from our own interview with Simon Kinberg take over here:
"We’re definitely telling a younger story that the original films did. It depends on what books you look at. There are some, like the Ultimate books, that tell this story. So it is an origin story of the Fantastic Four, and it does follow them before they really know what a superhero is."
He also describes this as "a coming of age story" and promises that their origin story will involve "some sort of scientific travel." Yes, that sounds like Ultimate Fantastic Four (the 2004 update of the FF story by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, and Adam Kubert) to us, too. Does this mean we're going to get a more monstrous Doctor Doom this time around, perhaps?
Initially FOX's intention was for their rebooted Fantastic Four universe to occupy the same world as their X-Men films, but in recent months, that suggestion has been walked back. In other words, don't expect any Reed Richards/Charles Xavier chess games any time in the future. For now, you can settle for the fact that X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn is one of the film's producers.
None of this sounds like a problem, right? We've gotten used to origin stories that pull from different versions of character history in our superhero movies. The problem is that, historically, the Fantastic Four, particularly during their undisputed greatest era (by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby...arguably the finest sustained run by any creative team in comic book history), are a family, and there's an element of fun, even whimsy, surrounding their adventures. The Four are, after all, a family. An out-there family, but a family nevertheless. If you're not familiar with their adventures, think of the most heroic moments of The Incredibles crossed with some of the most dimension-warping madness of recent Doctor Who, and we suppose you're in the ballpark.
But early on, Simon Kinberg promised that "We're approaching it in a much more realistic, grounded, science rather than science fiction way." Well, that's fair. It hasn't hurt the X-Men franchise any, right? But then, you see, virtually every member of the cast has said something worrisome or eyebrow raising.
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