2015's Fantastic Four is mostly remembered now for the troubled history of its production. Indeed, Josh Trank's creation was criticized for almost everything at the time, from screenplay and visuals to unfaithfulness to the source material.
But what led to the movie the trouble the movie had? Director Josh Trank himself has disowned the film since and blamed studio executives' interference for making the movie the way it turned out to be. However, there may be more to it than just producers' meddling.
Visions For The Screenplay Differed Greatly
The project was announced way back in August 2009 when 20th Century Fox said it would be rebooting the previous two movies. At the time, Michael Green was attached as screenwriter. In 2012, Josh Trunk was hired to direct and Jeremy Slater to write the screenplay. Zack Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller were also assigned to work on the script, though Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to polish it in February 2013, and Simon Kinberg was hired as co-writer in October 2013.
Allegedly, Slater's version of the script took The Avengers as its template and packed the movie with action. Trank had a different movie in mind. Trank didn't like the comic book-centric tone and instead wanted to have something darker. Slater left after six months.
The Script Was Rewritten Again During Filming
Though the script had already gone through multiple versions during pre-production, issues with it didn't end there. In fact, it was rewritten yet again by producers Hutch Parker and Kinberg, giving it a different ending from the one Trank had envisioned.
Such constant alterations clearly didn't do the movie any good as it ended up being tonally dark, and the pacing was uneven in certain places.
Reshoots Were Scheduled During Post-Production
Even as the filming ended, the problems didn't stop there. In January 2015, reshoots were scheduled during post-production by some 20th Century Fox executives.
The reshoots seemed to be quite disorganized and added to the intense disordered feeling of the movie.
Trank Had Behaved Erratically On Set
Before Fantastic Four could be released, reports started appearing of the troubles the movie was going through. These just added on to the fact that reshoots could be a sign of greater problems.
Allegedly, Trank displayed "erratic behavior" on set, which resulted in him being treated poorly by the studio. Moreover, in April 2015, Trank was no longer attached to direct the second Star Wars standalone movie, which was allegedly impacted by his time on Fantastic Four.
20th Century Fox Changed The Movie Without Trank's Involvement
Other reports that preceded the film's release stated that 20th Century Fox executives weren't satisfied with Trank's original cut and requested for changes to be made without his involvement.
Because of this, several important plot points were either changed or completely omitted from the director's version, and a new film was born.
Trank Disowned The Movie
The reports published before the movie's release weren't the only thing tainting the picture even before its release. Josh Trank himself contributed to Fantastic Four's poor reputation by publicly disowning the movie.
A day before its release, Trank took to Twitter, saying that he had "a fantastic version" of the movie that audiences will "probably never see" (but he deleted the tweet afterward). Trank also removed Fantastic Four from his filmography on Instagram.
The Release Date Was Changed Multiple Times
To an extent, rescheduling a movie might not do much harm if the additions or changes made to it are meaningful. However, this wasn't the case for Fantastic Four, considering the reshoots and the drama behind the scenes.
In December 2012, its release date was announced as March 6, 2015. This changed in November 2013 when the movie was rescheduled to be released on June 19, 2015. But this date also changed, becoming August 7, 2015. Fantastic Four had its world premiere on August 4, 2015, at the Williamsburg Cinemas in NYC.
The Movie Was Slammed By Critics And Flopped At The Box Office
With all the things that the movie had to go through before its release, it's no wonder that Fantastic Four ultimately flopped at the box office and was slammed by critics.
According to critics, everything from the movie's screenplay to its direction to its slow pacing was either bad or mediocre. Tone inconsistency and lack of humor didn't contribute anything good either, while the visuals were done poorly. But worst of all was the fact that the movie wasn't faithful to the source material even though Kinberg had promised that it was a "celebration of all the Fantastic Four comics that have preceded it."
Actress Kate Mara Opened Up About Her Experience While Filming The Movie
Five years after the release of Fantastic Four, Kate Mara opened up about her experience while filming it. In 2020, the actress stated that the experience was "horrible," though she didn't regret working on the project.
It seems like no one was pleased with this production.