The 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four looked to be promising. It has Chronicle director Josh Trank on the helm, an all-star talented cast, and the trailers that were released prior make it look like it could be one of the best comic book movies as the genre is slowly dominating the cinemas. But then the opposite happened when the film was finally released as it flopped both critically and commercially. Trank even publicly showed his displeasure in the film. All future plans for the sequel were immediately canceled. So who is to blame for the reboot's failure? One of its stars has the answer.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Toby Kebbell, who played Doctor Doom in the film, looked back on the poor reception that the 2015 reboot received. While he didn't name a specific individual, he did say that "bad leadership" is to blame for why the film went wrong and why it ended up performing poorly at the box office and panned by both critics and the audience.
"You know, I'll be entirely honest... I don't think we were a victim of timing, I think we were a victim of bad leadership and organization," Kebbell said candidly. “I actually thought people in charge —— I mean in charge, in charge, not people creating and working on set —— I think there were opportunities, there were conversations had, there were script differences, there was like, 'Hey, you know, Simon [Kinberg, producer and writer], this is actually factually true, this is important information...' He's like, ‘No, no, no. That's not what this is.’"
He continued, "So there were unfortunate things. In Hollywood, you can't ever speak ill and I'm not doing that, I'm just saying while I was there, there was a lot more that could have been done to make that a better thing. There's fans for it. I truly believe it. I think Doom... I love the Joker, I love so many bad guys, my performance as Koba [Planet of the Apes films], there are bad guys that live in my heart. So I truly believe Doom is an awesome villain, he's an excellent villain and they kind of always just do something goofy with it. It's a shame, it's a shame. I honestly feel that way. I wouldn't have gone into it thinking, 'Ah, this is going to be another terrible movie.’ I thought they had that."
The actor also acknowledged that the MCU has become the "apex predator" when it comes to comic book movies and he doesn't know "why that effort wasn't put in" by the powers that be in the film. In the end, he expressed his hope that someone will eventually create a "great version" of Doom as he is a big fan of the character.
After the release of the film, a lot of stories have come out regarding the behind-the-scenes drama of the film. One major piece of information that came out is that there were creative differences between Trank and the studio, who weren't satisfied with the director's original cut. As a result, they mandated reshoots which would eventually lead to more differences as the studio took over the control of the film and make some changes without Trank's supervision. The director would, later on, disown the film during the release.
It is unfortunate that the 2015 film ended up doing poorly as it means that yet again another big-screen adaptation of Marvel's First Family is a failure. Fortunately, it looks like things will finally go in the right direction as Marvel Studios now has the rights to the characters and they are currently working on the MCU reboot which will be directed by Spider-Man "Homecoming" trilogy director Jon Watts. Fingers crossed that this time around, they will do it right as we still haven't seen a great on-screen adaption of the First Family.
Also Read: Fantastic Four: Marvel Studios Has Reportedly Begun Casting Process
MCU's Fantastic Four is currently in development and is set to be part of Phase Four.