Fantastic Four wasn't exactly well-received when it was released last year; constant rumours of behind-the-scenes problems were followed by a barrage of negative reviews, which promptly led to 20th Century Fox removing the sequel from their release slate. According to producer and co-writer Simon Kinberg however, Fantastic Four 2 is not out of the question.
"We didn't make a good movie", Kinberg told Den of Geek, "and the world voted, and I think they probably voted correctly. And you can't make a good movie every time out - not everybody does. We actually have a pretty good batting average, all things considered. But I think we made many mistakes when we made that movie - mistakes that we learned from and we wouldn't repeat".
Kinberg has a pretty good idea of what he and Fox would do differently if they got another chance at a Fantastic Four movie; "We'll try to be truer to the essence of the tone of Fantastic Four, which is completely - well, not completely, but largely - distinct from the X-Men, which is brighter, funner, more optimistic tone. I think we tried to make a darker Fantastic Four movie, which seemed like a radical idea but we were kind of messing with the DNA of the actual comic instead of trusting the DNA of the comic".
I didn't have too much of a problem with the darker tone of the latest Fantastic Four movie; it was the poor screenplay, underwhelming action, and catastrophic editing (among other things) that crippled the movie. While it's intriguing to ponder what Fox's Fantastic Four 2 might look like, the reality is that the studio has made three of these movies and none of them have been good. Here's hoping the rights go back to Marvel sooner rather than later.
Directed by Josh Trank (and others), and starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and Toby Kebbell, Fantastic Four is now available to own on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Images: 20th Century Fox
