Honestly, Trank's idea of a body horror Cronenberg-style superhero film would be really interesting, but Slater was the right guy to draft a Fantastic Four screenplay
I agreed sounds interesting but I think if he wanted to make a movie like that. He should have make it but with a original story instead of using the Fantastic Four IP. Regardless of
yeah I went into this video thinking, "I want the Track cut" but the longer I watched I was like "this version sounds terrible...I want the Slater cut!"
@@palmickey420 Ikr I think that this is the one time I am totally fine with the studio not releasing the directors cut for the film & them attempting to fix it themselves for a CBM. Unlike Richard Donners Superman 2, Ayer's Suicide Squad or Snyder's Justice League which would have been good or great but because the studio thought they knew better they just ruined them & pissed off the fans & teams who worked on it.
How is it interesting? They gave full control for a comic book movie to someone who hates comics? Also makes sense that he hated the avengers. He's synder 2.0
he didnt want a body-horror. he wanted cronicles but with fantastic four. *sighs*. also the idea that jeremy slater and directors wasnt on page is wrong. tallk about trying to throw shades on someone you already thrown shade at. he didnt wanted a "black-all-crew" , he had the same casts as young teens. same cast after they got powers, probably ?? ALSO.. FOR the love of. Hasn't trank suffered enough ? He made one-of-the-best superhero / realistic movies. He was pulled of Fantastic Four cause they wanted to do re-shoot for no reason at all. this was almost 2015. almost 10 years ago. talk about his new movies instead.
@@UnifiedaxxS Except that's not what the fantastic 4 are, which makes Trank the problem for trying to fit a square block through a round hole. If a director can't look at the source material and get any inspiration at all, then they're the wrong director for that project. It doesn't matter if it's "capeshit" or not, if the director is going out of their way to ignore the source material it won't be a good adaptation. Besides it's not as if Trank's vision was particularly inspired, he just wanted to make chronicle again but with established characters.
I feel like one thing people forget is while yes the Dark Knight Trilogy has darker themes, those movies have a good amount of humor and personality- I feel like a lot of directors just say the darker themes and did not see the humor and personality in those films
@@OptimusMonk01what makes you think he was specifically replying to you? And if you spoke English fluently you would understand his comment has a lot to do with the discussion being had.
I can understand keeping a real world feel to it, but that doesn’t mean it has to be gloomy or dark. You can still make a bright movie and make it relatable
We get that but let’s be honest marvel haves a full catalog full of bright movies some successful a lot was not so they can do the dark and gloomy just needs the right writer and director to flush the characters out
the F4 is supposed to be a tight family giving you that friendly vibe. i don’t get the whole dark n gloomy vibe. save that for characters like doom . they’re literally the ninja turtles , doesn’t need to be as goofy but we love teams like this because of that true family atmosphere.
@@derekseven1647you cannot convert jack kirby's amazing concepts and art into live action, the fantastic four work so much better in animation (either it be 2d or 3d or both)
@@DeepEye1994 there was a cut scene in across the spider-verse where miles and gwen teleport to a kirby art like room and it looked amazing, can't forget how the first spider-verse film used the kirby crackle (the ball particles you see in the portal, that's how kirby drew energy) i think a fantastic 4 movie with the spider-verse art style would be incredible.
"While the Snyder Cut movement was an incredible thing, it's also something that doesn't need to happen for every movie that suffers from studio interference, as sometimes movie studios have no choice but to step in" - Wiser words have never been spoken.
@@Bowiiihowdy Whedon's version was just Producer pleasing botched Surgery. It's unfair to only blame him. I will blame WB for it more cuz Snyder's Previous movie was not that good either nor his later Rebel Moon.
I'm honestly amazed Hollywood could never understand that Batman was appropriate for a dark and gritty film but other superhero franchises were not. You can have variety and do some dark and some light depending on the source material.
That's where DC has struggled. Especially Zack Snyder. I liked his films, I enjoyed Man of Steel and BvS, but making everyone fit the dark tone didn't work. That's where Marvel did better (usually). The adapted the story around the characters.
You say this, but when those execs were growing up, Batman was the byword for comedy. Imagine if someone tells you that Looney Tunes are appropriate for a dark and gritty adaptation (but not other cartoons).
Hollywood doesn't do Subtlety, comic books are comic books , whether horror or action heroes , romance , slice of life , philosophical. If some one drew them then they are a cartoon and that either means a cartoony comedy super movie or a dark and gritty reimagining. 😐
Everything about this film's conception was doomed from the get-go. Making it dark and gritty, taking inspiration from Cronenberg, only kickstarting it just to maintain film rights. Nothing about it said anyone's hearts were in the right place. In regards to Jeremy Slater's original treatment, it might not have been that good, but at least it sounded more interesting and entertaining than what we got.
I have to quote redlettermedia and say you cant make a good fantastic 4 movie. Trank at least has an idea that was different and Slater just wanted to do ANOTHER attempt at a superhero film with the F4 when they aren't superheroes theyre a bunch of wacky scientists who try and make their lives as normal as possible but are always called to action.
Trank's movie would have been interesting. Not good, better than what we got. There was nothng wrong with the body horror, its already in the original concept. The things main personality is horror with his own body
I know people don't like the portal thing from this film, but it's not completely out of nowhere. It's more based on the Ultimate universe's Fantastic Four, where they got their powers via dimensional travel instead of space travel.
@@Bulletsandblockbustersaloso colecthio. The x men fntastic four move was planed in 2010 but the did frent x men fntastic foyr crossover planned to be wrteen by warren ellus
@@thrashpuppy2010agreed. It feels more modern. When the FF were originally created in 1961, dreams of exploring the stars and going the moon was the idea. But now we’ve already been to space a lot…so inter dimensional travel would be the next big thing. I like it.
I actually prefer parts of that origin. Space is fun and cool, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for humanity. We haven't made any concrete steps to go back to the Moon or even land on Mars. So the N-Zone is an interesting concept that opens up so many other doors for the story. I think Annihilus should have been the villain if you take the N-Zone route for a story.
I wish more directors and studios would take inspiration from Raimi's Spiderman trilogy. It was able to be serious and campy. Had dark moments, but also light ones. Not everything needs to be dark and gritty all the time.
@Alf-gm7tf I think Raimi would be an awesome director for a Batman movie. Especially with his ability to balance serious and campy, but also sprinkle in some horror elements. I think it could work really well, especially using elements from Batman: the animated series like he used elements from Spiderman: the animated series for his Spiderman trilogy.
I think nobody can direct like Raimi other than Raimi himself. Even with the evil dead TV show, you notice the difference between the episodes he directed and the ones he only wrote... he's a God among humans
I think nobody can direct like Raimi other than Raimi himself. Even with the evil dead TV show, you notice the difference between the episodes he directed and the ones he only wrote... he's a God among humans
@@lucacriscuolo2989 I agree, and I think it's why Dr. Strange 2 was such a mess. It was his vision conflicting with the MCU vision. It almost felt like it held him back.
Awesome video! This really opened my eyes to Josh Trank. I was aware about how the fox studio had heavy involvement in the film, but I had no idea about his behavior on the project. Guess this explains why he hasn’t done any big movies in while.
@@Zegeebwah he wrote and directed a $20 million movie a couple years ago. it didn't do amazing theatrically cause it ended up going digital due to covid (literally came out may 2020 lol). it seems like he's still able to get jobs
@@zootin6688 That is Capone 2020 which is very mediocre, its not that bad but not good either, kind of weak narrative, going around story that you already know what the end for Capone is, nothing new .... Thank to Covid it doesnt got theatrical release, otherwise critics would have trash it even more. Trank is really 1 hit wonder
@@CollegeDroputPowerpointsYou say that like it was Tranks plan all along to screw over a studio that gave him his first big break, Chronicle. Personally, it looks to me like Trank had a very specific, alternative take on the superhero genre. Him and Max Landis crafted an incredibly unique "superhero" style film with Chronicle that avoided most cliches (like the whole great power comes with great responsibility yada yada type hero cliches) and instead went with the idea of "what would 3 teens ACTUALLY do if they gained super powers?" I'm not trying to say Trank would've made a groundbreaking new film if he had been allowed to write and film what he wanted with Fantastic Four, but I agree with most other commenters saying his version would've at least been interesting and not a Simon Kinberg, Dark Phoenix snooze fest.
Trank sounds like a nightmare. Why do the studios hire people who have contempt for the source material? It seems to happen often and usually results in a poor adaptation.
Studios like to take promising directors that have made one or two features, and then bring them onto huge franchises. They do this because it gives them hope that something fresh and good will be made, but they'll be new enough to be controlled by the studio.
@@ThePie_only it’s not a mean thing. I just don’t exactly think that what he said is true. I mean, with all the misinformations spreading around the internet about everything, can you really blame me??
I remember seeing the trailers for this and thinking it looked awful. Seems like the studio and director share the blame on this one. Being caught off guard by the tone of the film is entirely on the studio for not monitoring more closely though
He did what they hired him to do, they were being silly. They should have interfered more during filming, but also supported Trank. He clearly went a bit mad.
When whe movie began by presenting the mindset of a young Reed Richards, I thought I was in for a great movie. And that impression was enforced with the prototype scene in the basement. Then everything went south pretty quickly. The team didn't felt like a family, the movie was esthetically so dark, a lot of the story took place inside the same facility or whatever, there was a whole 5 year time jump in between that wasn't as impactful as it should have and Victor turned into a villain simply because he has to. This movie is like a nice mug that they broke and repaired using glue, with some pieces either missing or replaced, and no idea of what made it great initially.
man, what a nightmare. I can just imagine having to deal with all those problems, both as trank, and the other people trying to cope with all that craziness.
I think it was Honest Trailers that at one point said that a movie about the making of this movie would be more interesting than this version of Fantastic Four turned out to be.
@@drumnbassdan Rise of the Silver Surfer is one of the most terrible superhero movies ever made. It killed the franchise. The most boring parts of Incredibles 1 and 2 are better than all Fantastic Four movies combined.
That does not count but yeah also I'm just gonna you know despite the recent years with the MCU but I would like to see the interpretation of Fantastic Four in that universe
Trank had no right not to take his anger on Kate because he was forced to cast her she didn't do anything wrong she even went to do research on her character Sue Storm but was told not to do that.
Trank just wanted to be different for the sake of being different because he had no attachment to the source material. He wanted a Fantastic Four in name only, a complete deconstruction; and then just acted out somewhat unnecessarily when the things he wanted just flat out weren't working for everyone, between the higher up's concerns and even the way he clashed with his own cast in ways that sound so childish and unprofessional, he just wasn't acknowledging this and ultimately seems like he just shut down and then when all was said and done he blamed everybody else a lot but himself a little too little. He should've just left the project or got fired. He just simply wasn't right for it at all.
I remember watching this in theatres and sharply noticing how much I actually like the Trank First half, and then boom, when the studio recuts happen for the second half of the movie, I and all my friends stopped liking it. We didn't know it at the time and we just thought "Why was the second half of the movie so much worse than the first half???" and then I eventually learned about the reshoots and recuts and such. I wish they would have just let Trank cook. I was REALLY digging the horror inspired elements and I think experimentation is good. You wanna bright kid friendly F4? We got two of those in the 2000's. Go watch those. Ya know?
No, the first half was garbage, too. It was as boring, tedious and poorly-acted with a whole bunch of nothing happening as the second half. All it confirmed was the movie might’ve been mostly garbage instead of complete garbage had they let him cook.
@@edwardhewitt9229 what character or plot development? The first half was as boring to sit through with a whole bunch of NOTHING happening as the second half was. 🤦♂
Oh, right. Of course I want a bright FF movie. Wait, nevermind. I *totally* want Marvel's First Family to be dark, gritty, and realistic. God forbid, there isn't a FF inspired film with darker themes/tone but still able keep it light. Oh...
@@Bulletsandblockbustersyeh msyb Josh trank shou j been balowed yo mskmr th move he wanted to make lith guy wanted to mor if a sci fi horror movie and msyb fix cou hsv just let him do it imgin if the got mdkevth mo he wanted it cou hsv been on mor intresting suphero moves out there imagine unvrksble meets th fly
It’s absolutely wild to me that people are saying MCU is in a bad state when we had movies like this in the superhero genre just popping up right and left. Sure, we have She Hulks and Secret Invasions but then we got BANGERS like Loki, Wandavision, Shang Chi, and Moon Knight.
Absolutely love this series! Another awesome video dude! However it does suck to hear that this is one film that sounds like it would not have had any sort of good cut with who was at the helm of the project.
At most it would be a cult classic. Chronicle had some bad reviews for how dark it became and I think thats because the mass audience dont like things that are "negative."
I do like this movie, or at least what it set out to do. The minimalist beginning leading into 90s Sci-fi wonder into pure body horror is legitimately great and reminded me a lot of Ang Lee's Hulk, which I also really liked. It's when it has to be a superhero movie is when it goes wrong and it goes wrong hard and fast
It may still have worked. Fox didnt know what they had asked for, so were surprised when Trank delivered what they asked for, rather than a slightly more serious take on the fantastic four
Nah. The only thing I wanted out of this movie when it came out was a good action figure of the thing...with pants. This movie was so trash that we didn't get any good action figures if any at all
Thank you for making this, I've been recently telling everyone how compelling the pre-production and concept art for Fant4stic was. I really like the idea of a superhero body horror so it's a shame Fox fumbled that.
I heard there was different ideas for X-Men Dark Phoenix before that film was made. Presumably there was an alternate ending of the film that was made where the X-Men fought the Dark Phoenix outside the United Nations building. Maybe you could do a video on that in the future.
As soon as Josh Trank decided to be a numb skull and not listen to/disregard Jeremy Slater who cooked up an absolute masterpiece of a script, this movie was doomed. Sad to see but can't say that it wasn't deserved.
Nope, trunk's idea was pitch perfect. If you think about the characters it is actually genius. We already had avengers we did not need another carbon copy. The studio should have not intervened , they did the movie just to make it, so why care anyways. Even the coat would have been lower with the trunk's version. You brought the guy that made you a blockbuster already, let him fking cook. Slater's idea sounds like a second hand fart.
I like Chronicle a lot and I really like the idea of the Scanners/Fly mix, but there was no way this film was going to end well. The studio wanted one thing and Trank another. I imagine if there actually is a Director cut out there, it's maybe fine. If he'd been able to execute his vision it might have been good, but just so different from what they wanted
After seeing this vid i think Trank should've just done his own thing. He wouldn't have been restricted by source material and such. He would have had no problem pitching and greenlighting an original film based on the ideas ideas that were mentioned i.e. A Scanner and The Fly mix with inspiration from The Fantastic Four, after his success with chronicle.
While maybe not the best idea for a Fantastic Four movie, I liked the idea of a “body horror” F superhero film and would of liked to have seen Trank’s original version
Honestly, i would have loved to see tranks version, it seems like a great and refreshing take, but i also would have loved to see slaters. Both could have done really well and been great movies if they could have been done in their own
That first script would have been amazing. Adding Annihulus would have been such an awesome movie. Especially with his control rod being the thing to create victors armor. Such a shame man.
A Cronenberg-esque Body-Horror-Version of this Movie actually sounds interesting and there *are* some bits of that left in the movie, like Reed coming across half reformed and panicking Ben trapped in his cell or the shot of Reed being experimented on and his limbs streched in all directions. I'd be honestly curious to watch this version of Fant4stic. Alas, if will probably never happen. Shame, since the general Idea is interesting in concept and I actually like the Cast.
I feel like Fox should have given support early on, to mould it an push for some fun, instead of giving him free reign then destroying what they specifically hired him to do.
If Josh Trank taught us anything, is that you can't go from a low-budget movie to a big-budget movie You need to go from low to medium, and then from medium to big Is all about gaining credibility. You never know when a studio is gonna think they can control you. You need to show them that you know what you're doing better than them.
Yeah. Giving Trank the keys to an F1 car after driving his first beater car probably wasn't the best idea (not to say Chronicle was a beater car, but for a movie that didn't cost much, it was a bit of a miracle it was as good as it was and made as much as it did). I wish Trank had told the studio very clearly his vision BEFOREHAND so that they could've been like "oh, I see" and just let him down slowly that he wasn't getting the job. I think Fox was on a deadline though and wanted to retain the rights to the Fant4stic franchise. They probably trusted him enough to move forward and, well, we got what we got. I definitely don't blame Trank, at least not entirely.
@LeonardoKlotz no? MCU specifically hires up-and-coming filmmakers. Technically, you can say every director in the mcu is a director for hire. They have these planned out years in advance.
@@caelanmurie-gq2sj the only reason why they do this is so they can control them. The smaller the director, the more they wanted to control them In the beginning, they hired stablished directors to helm their first movies, and that was before Disney took over After that, the bigger they got, the bigger was their control over the movies They not only were getting up-and-coming directors, but also TV directors They didn't wanted their filmmakers to think outside the box when they shouldn't. That's why they got rid of Edgar Wright and put a director for hire like Peyton Reed. There's a reason why they usually don't pick stablished filmmakers like Darren Aronofsky, Matt Reeves, Jordan Peele, Greta Gerwig It doesn't matter how talented they are, if Disney can't control them, they won't even go to the "maybe pile" That's what Hollywood has been doing recently, especially with franchise movies
It sounds as though Trank wasn’t the right fit from the jump. I like the idea of the superhero-transformation -as-body-horror film he wanted to do and it could have been a great piece. However, the studio clearly had something altogether different. This is a story of the city mouse and the country mouse trying to live happily in the suburbs: it doesn’t work for either one
No way, they did it really dirty on Jeremy Slater 💀, with his script and his concepts and ideas it could have been the best Fantastic Four movie. Too bad it wasn't, but the good thing is that Jeremy Slater was able to continue with Marvel with Moon Knight and is now working on James Gunn's new DCU, equally a shame he's not the writer of the new Fantastic Four MCU movie.
Fantastic Four as a "horror story" is a terrible idea...Trank had no idea what makes Fantastic Four so iconic...doing a "what if" could work with this concept, but for The main story, doing this with the Fantastic Four is idiotic and the studio was right in this one, they just made a mistake and hired the wrong guy for the project.
@@Fenris30 Bruce Banner hates being the Hulk and being feared, persecuted, losing the love of his life, he tries to commit suicide, it's the story of Frankenstein......but just for one character the Avengers movie should have been a horror story also...no....The Fantastic Four is as Toreto says: "about Family"...the closest thing to "the incredibles" in live action....not a horror story.
Trank is the ideal of example of why you need to bring in people who're passionate about the project they've accepted to do. If you've got a vision for an artsy-fartsy project, save that for an original film and not an IP knowing full-well that it's not going to go over well with all corners of the Earth. I've got ideas for deep, thought-provoking "think about it!"-type films but if I was tasked with making a Fantastic Four movie it'll show the best of what the comicbook has to offer and not some downer, depressing "but what if family sad!?" nonsense, lol.
It’s not just this film, there are other good Fantastic 4 scripts like the mid-to-late 90s Michael France version and the early 2000s Doug Petrie one, but for some reason the movies don’t work. They could make good What Could Have Been videos, as they’re both online to read
Thanks for this, it really wraps everything up. I was very hopeful for this film when it was announced. I loved the idea of the negative zone (planet zero) instead of cosmic rays in space. Novel in the early 60's, but another dimension is the new frontier. I loved the slightly more serious, gritty tone, something I liked in general about Fox's superhero films versus the more comedy-driven MCU films. But there's no denying the movie falls apart after little more than half an hour. With 20/20 hindsight, it would have been better if Trank had trusted the writer he hired and gone with the story he developed, and done his rewrites off of it, as opposed to being in such opposition to every element of the story. I mean, Annihilus, Doom, Galactus and Mole Man in one film!!! Fox double-downed on the problems by slashing the budget and thinking they could somehow cobble together a film post principal photography. Fox's superhero films are characterized by good characters and strong action - you can't beat the opening to X2, or Quicksilver in DOFP. But this film had a dizzying lack of action, coherence, and ultimately shows what you get when no one in the production trusts anyone else in the production.
I agree. If Trank just tried to add some extra spice to a story about Annilhilus and Doom with one of the others as an end credits scene it would have been a decent movie at the very least. At least if we're going with the summary we heard in the video.
Kind of funny that the best parts of the film are the ones that were rewritten and reshot without Trank. I just hope the new one is great because F4 and X-men are my favorite thing and the only real Marvel comics I read. We deserve it.
They had the right writer, just not the director. Josh Trank wasn't a Marvel guy or even a DC guy, he just wanted to make his movie without the clamor from the studio and its producers, it's the only reason why Chronicle works perfectly as a one-off story, no sequel or franchise needed it was his story the way he wanted to tell and share, it was just a story about three kids discovering superpowers but set in the realistic world. With Fantastic 4, it just didn't garner off his interest in the way Chris Nolan wanted to make Batman set in a realistic world, he just didn't have the heart to make it or make it in a way to satisfy the studio. Overall, I feel that Josh was in a no-win situation to make his movie or a movie that everyone would love.
I still find it hard to believe someone who directed Chronicle, objectively a really well made and creative film, could fail so miserably on another comic book movie. I think I read somewhere Trank had some help directing Chronicle, but I can't find the article anywhere and have no idea if it's true.
I did enjoy a lot of ideas from this fantastic four but goddamn was it all over the place. I honestly would’ve like to see Transks full vision just to see how unique it would’ve been. I doubt I would’ve enjoyed that version of the film but I would’ve loved to see what a complete unhinged creative freedom looks like
The most interesting thing about this film will always be the production nightmare. I think Trank wasn’t a good pick imo. No clue how the F4 is so hard to adapt but man the MCU can only do better.
Trank is example of why you shouldn't hired an up an coming director to work on a major IP like F4. Especially one with temper and over grandiose ideas like him.
I remember being so hyped for this... As Trank had made one of my favorite movies of all time: Chronicle. Not to mention Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller being totally awesome actors. The first trailer looked so good. Whatever happened to Miles Teller? Feels like he disappeared after J.K. Simmons shouted at him in Whiplash.
Sounds like the studio was actually the “good guys” this time around. Whereas Trank did not care about the source material, his writer or the cast. It had to be his way through and through at every turn. Even though his way was the wrong way
In the comics, it took the Fantastic Four a little time to become a full-blown super hero adventure comic. Back then Marvel was pumping out monster stories and others like the Twilight Zone, and when the FF started, they retained a lot of the flavor of the other stories. In their first issue they fought a monster. They didn't get their costumes until the third issue I think.
Trank not considering Slater's version after hiring him for his comic book knowledge feels really dumb. Why hire someone if you're gonna just reject all their proposals?
From what I remember, the film would've been too dark for a decent 3D post conversion, as 3D hates the dark and Trank was obviously going for a dimly lit horror motif.
I have to say, Trank's FANTASTIC FOUR felt to me like it would've been a decent sci-fi/horror movie if only it didn't have the Fantastic Four brand on it. As a sci-fi/horror movie of some other name (and with characters having a different powerset), it would've done fine.
I would have love to see Trank's vision on full display. I think the idea of making a more grounded story with a little inspiration from Chronicle is why he was hired in the first place. If there was issues on set with actors then that's a different story.
Could you do a video about the original script for Prometheus? It was called Alien: Engineers and was was written by Jon Spaihts. It eventually became Prometheus after rewrites by Damon Lindelof, most known as the writer of Lost, Watchmen HBO, the JJ Abrams Star Trek movies, and World War Z among other things
Fantastic Four are NOT superheroes. They are more dedicated to exploration and science. From time to time they do battle or just out smart them bad guys. Every movie version turns them into superheroes.
Having been a fan of the Fan4 for my whole life, its sad to see what has happened with the live action portrayals, even though I somewhat like them all in their own way. The ‘94 unreleased movie was a perfect adaptation of the origins if you overlook the shotty special effects and animation. The 2000’s was campy and lighthearted, with fun chemistry and good vibes, but terrible galactus portrayal. But Fan4stic just feels unfinished and doesnt bring the love of the team like the comics do. I’m happy you made this video because now I can at least appreciate what Trank tried to do with Slater on the project, but its a shame his vision wasnt produced the way he wanted.
The original origin of Dr Doom in the comics is probably the greatest villain origin story of all time (I read it in Bring On The Bad Guys at least 100 times as a kid)… why do people insist on f@cking with it? It’s perfect.
Because nowadays no villain is allowed to be villainous, they always have to be misunderstood or treated badly to justify why they're evil; all the companies now want to have sympathetic villains that act and look cool. That's why I'm glad that Jack Horner from the last Puss n Boots movie was just straight up evil because he wanted to and had none of the nowadays common villain traits.
If you read the source material for the Fantastic Four, and think the movie needs to be gloomy, grounded, and horrific, you don't actually want to make a Fantastic Four movie. There is a LOT of good potential with space explorers coming back Wrong, and I've seen Warren Ellis explore it effectively multiple times in his stories. It's even clear in a few of them that those stories are directly referencing the FF as inspiration. However, part of why those stories work is because they aren't actually Fantastic Four stories. There's plenty of interesting stories mixing superheroes and body horror that can be told. A Fantastic Four movie isn't one of them.
Sounds like he didn't want to make a superhero film. The transformation is only part of the story, but it's one everyone seems so hung up on. I'm so tired of origin stories. The point of adaptation is to elevate the story into a new medium, not as a vehicle to make an homage. We all saw the Fly, it's fantastic; make something else.
This is probably a rare occasion where the studio and writiers were actually trying to save the movie because of Josh Trank's overwhelming approach and bizarre choices. The fact he claimed his film is better than 99% of what cbm was out makes you question if he's even a fan at all. I could maybe see this "body horror, dark and gloom" tone work for a Hulk movie, but NOT The Fantastic Four. And you can tell the original ideas the writer had felt like a perfect modern F4 movie. This film in particular is why most well-known hared cbm fail. They aren't made by filmmakers who were fans and loved the characters and comics, they're just there for the money. The Dark Knight trilogy worked, not because Nolan was embarrassed by the comics, but because they knew to balance the characters in a realistic world and tell good stories with good characters. But also, Batman or Daredevil are characters that work in realistic and grounded stories, but anything sci-fi or supernatural can't be realistic. Sure, maybe grounded in some sort of humanity like The Amazing Spider-Man, but straight up changing the lore, rules, and powers by limiting it, then it just doesn't work and misses the point of the comics' grand scope and adventure.
Yeah if I’m being honest slater should’ve been kept on as writer he actually made the concept of a dark fantastic four work because he understands you need to balance comedy with grit like most other comic book movies that succeeded the body horror was the only thing I really liked about the movie as a kid it made me excited for doom but then he showed up again and it just wasn’t good compared to Johnny or Reed
slater ideas for the film were perfect. if they had handed him another writer to write more character work, and _obviously_ another director like brad bird it would have been an amazing movie. let's see what the MCU does!
This movie was doomed to fail from the start. I really don’t think josh trank was the right man to direct fantastic four since he really wasn’t into superhero comics in the first place. He never even had a love for the fantastic four. Fox literally only made this movie just so they can keep the rights from marvel. Having the movie be a me too dark knight style movie with a gritty and dark setting for marvel's first family was definitely not gonna mix well at all.
Honestly if this was an original IP without any characters or connections to Marvel, I think it would have been an interesting movie similar to Chronicle.
Lesson to be learn from this never hired a directors who only make one movie should hired the one who have already direct alot and have enough experience
Jesus why is it so hard to make a F4 movie. It’s so simple, the F4 are scientists who got into a freak accident and became superheroes after developing superpowers and now go on absurd adventures and battle fantastical foes. Reed is the leader and father figure of the team with a brilliant mind and although he may seem emotionally distant he deeply cares for his family. Sue is the mother figure and co leader who tries to keep the team focused and is very protective. Johnny is the little brother figure who’s the heart and soul of the team and a womanizer. Ben is the protective big brother figure of the team who’s always ready for a good fight but also has insecurities about his appearance and his relationship to his religion. Doom is someone who experienced great trauma after watching both of his parents sacrifice themselves to make sure Victor had a chance at survival due to the oppression of the Romani people under a violent dictatorship and everything Doom has now he worked hard for, his powers, becoming ruler of Latveria, and his suit was achieved by doom and Doom alone and I wish the movies would trying to stop make his origins tied to the Four and stop making him some random dude. Sorry for the rant but my god it should not be this hard.
Honestly, Trank's idea of a body horror Cronenberg-style superhero film would be really interesting, but Slater was the right guy to draft a Fantastic Four screenplay
Check out Planetary if you want body horror w/ the FF
Both can work together , especially if you go back and read the original run by Stan and ditko especially with the thing's appearance
I prefer Slatter's version for that regard of getting the movie fruitful based on the comics.
I agreed sounds interesting but I think if he wanted to make a movie like that. He should have make it but with a original story instead of using the Fantastic Four IP. Regardless of
@@alejandroalvarado4178 that's Trank's idea for this movie about the F4. I am rooting for Slatter on this movie.
It's really funny that Trank correctly identified the correct writer in Slater, but couldn't identify that he wasn't the right director.
yeah I went into this video thinking, "I want the Track cut" but the longer I watched I was like "this version sounds terrible...I want the Slater cut!"
@@palmickey420 Ikr I think that this is the one time I am totally fine with the studio not releasing the directors cut for the film & them attempting to fix it themselves for a CBM. Unlike Richard Donners Superman 2, Ayer's Suicide Squad or Snyder's Justice League which would have been good or great but because the studio thought they knew better they just ruined them & pissed off the fans & teams who worked on it.
@@ricniks4619snyders justice league was straight trash
@@ricniks4619both versions of justice league were ass
Jew
Fantastic Four (2015) is one of those movies in which its behind the scenes story is more interesting than the movie itself.
Like the island if Dr. Moro
Or even The Phantom Menace
@@mjl11Correction: The Sequels
How is it interesting? They gave full control for a comic book movie to someone who hates comics? Also makes sense that he hated the avengers. He's synder 2.0
So basically Slater was the right guy to write it, but Trank was the exact wrong person to direct and hand over creative control to.
he didnt want a body-horror. he wanted cronicles but with fantastic four. *sighs*. also the idea that jeremy slater and directors wasnt on page is wrong. tallk about trying to throw shades on someone you already thrown shade at. he didnt wanted a "black-all-crew" , he had the same casts as young teens. same cast after they got powers, probably ??
ALSO.. FOR the love of. Hasn't trank suffered enough ? He made one-of-the-best superhero / realistic movies. He was pulled of Fantastic Four cause they wanted to do re-shoot for no reason at all. this was almost 2015. almost 10 years ago. talk about his new movies instead.
Slater was a comic book nerd. Trank could make a serious grounded movie that isn't capeshit. Trank wasn't the problem
He had no creative control though. He and Fox agreed to shoot the movie in 3D. Then Fox nixed that.
@@UnifiedaxxS Except that's not what the fantastic 4 are, which makes Trank the problem for trying to fit a square block through a round hole. If a director can't look at the source material and get any inspiration at all, then they're the wrong director for that project. It doesn't matter if it's "capeshit" or not, if the director is going out of their way to ignore the source material it won't be a good adaptation. Besides it's not as if Trank's vision was particularly inspired, he just wanted to make chronicle again but with established characters.
Considering the state of the MCU now, if that F4 movie doesn’t deliver, then the IP is officially cursed in the movie format
I honestly think the 2000s f4 movies were great especially the first one the second one definitely had its problems but it was still enjoyable
....that's so fucking stupid.
No. No it doesn't
I hated how they turned Doctor Doom into a copy of Norman Osborn.
I'm happy Marvel is taking their time on it.
@@ericklingenberg5309
I am really unsure about Pedro Pascal as Mr Fantastic.
I feel like one thing people forget is while yes the Dark Knight Trilogy has darker themes, those movies have a good amount of humor and personality- I feel like a lot of directors just say the darker themes and did not see the humor and personality in those films
its not really "directors" though, its studio executives. Trank wasnt trying to make a film like the Dark Knight.
plus, batman is dark. F4 is not.
The Dark Knight wasn't sucessful because it was "dark and gritty", but because it was a damn good movie
@@KingArthur39 what's that got to do with my comment
@@OptimusMonk01what makes you think he was specifically replying to you?
And if you spoke English fluently you would understand his comment has a lot to do with the discussion being had.
I can understand keeping a real world feel to it, but that doesn’t mean it has to be gloomy or dark. You can still make a bright movie and make it relatable
We get that but let’s be honest marvel haves a full catalog full of bright movies some successful a lot was not so they can do the dark and gloomy just needs the right writer and director to flush the characters out
I don't need it to be gloomy or dark, I legit wanna see a Cronenburg style FF film with all the body horror
I like the dark n gloomy. We can have both. It’s a multiverse
the F4 is supposed to be a tight family giving you that friendly vibe. i don’t get the whole dark n gloomy vibe. save that for characters like doom . they’re literally the ninja turtles , doesn’t need to be as goofy but we love teams like this because of that true family atmosphere.
Bright and relatable? You mean constant unfunny jokes and quips that whedon and the rest of mcu does for 10 years and played out nowadays?
The Incredibles will always be the best Fantastic Four movie (for now).
For now yeah right your gonna wait another 20 years 😂😂
Yeah and even that one's animated. Live action doesn't seem to work for the F4.
@@derekseven1647you cannot convert jack kirby's amazing concepts and art into live action, the fantastic four work so much better in animation (either it be 2d or 3d or both)
@@yourfatboy5359Spider-Verse style Fantastic 4 would be lit
@@DeepEye1994 there was a cut scene in across the spider-verse where miles and gwen teleport to a kirby art like room and it looked amazing, can't forget how the first spider-verse film used the kirby crackle (the ball particles you see in the portal, that's how kirby drew energy) i think a fantastic 4 movie with the spider-verse art style would be incredible.
"While the Snyder Cut movement was an incredible thing, it's also something that doesn't need to happen for every movie that suffers from studio interference, as sometimes movie studios have no choice but to step in" - Wiser words have never been spoken.
Perfect quote!!
Snyder cut was not that good TBH.
And Directors sud sign movies if studio agrees to release their cut on Digital.
@ChoCoMoCo69 it wasn't a masterpiece but it wasn't a Frankenstein mess the Whedon Schneider mix the original cut was
@@ChoCoMoCo69except it was that good. 🤷🏻♂️
@@Bowiiihowdy Whedon's version was just Producer pleasing botched Surgery. It's unfair to only blame him.
I will blame WB for it more cuz Snyder's Previous movie was not that good either nor his later Rebel Moon.
I'm honestly amazed Hollywood could never understand that Batman was appropriate for a dark and gritty film but other superhero franchises were not. You can have variety and do some dark and some light depending on the source material.
That's where DC has struggled. Especially Zack Snyder. I liked his films, I enjoyed Man of Steel and BvS, but making everyone fit the dark tone didn't work. That's where Marvel did better (usually). The adapted the story around the characters.
You say this, but when those execs were growing up, Batman was the byword for comedy. Imagine if someone tells you that Looney Tunes are appropriate for a dark and gritty adaptation (but not other cartoons).
Hollywood doesn't do Subtlety, comic books are comic books , whether horror or action heroes , romance , slice of life , philosophical. If some one drew them then they are a cartoon and that either means a cartoony comedy super movie or a dark and gritty reimagining. 😐
your opinion says that you liked josstice league more rather than the snyder cut
@@davidshillaker7578
@@davidshillaker7578Zack Snyder is a hack and you have awful taste
Everything about this film's conception was doomed from the get-go. Making it dark and gritty, taking inspiration from Cronenberg, only kickstarting it just to maintain film rights. Nothing about it said anyone's hearts were in the right place.
In regards to Jeremy Slater's original treatment, it might not have been that good, but at least it sounded more interesting and entertaining than what we got.
Agreed
I have to quote redlettermedia and say you cant make a good fantastic 4 movie. Trank at least has an idea that was different and Slater just wanted to do ANOTHER attempt at a superhero film with the F4 when they aren't superheroes theyre a bunch of wacky scientists who try and make their lives as normal as possible but are always called to action.
@@CollegeDroputPowerpoints I counter that argument saying you can't make a good Fantastic Four movie with one word: Incredibles.
So glad that Josh drank himself isn't pushing for a Trank cut
Trank's movie would have been interesting. Not good, better than what we got. There was nothng wrong with the body horror, its already in the original concept. The things main personality is horror with his own body
Honestly that script with Annihilus and Mole Man sounds fucking awesome. Just a shame this isn’t the universe that movie was made in.
Yeah although it might have some problems filming on like how spider-man 3 (2007) have shoehorned all the villain in and stuff
It would have been too expensive, and the story would have been a mess.
@@SirBlackReedsWouldve beeen much better than the abomination we got
Goddamn, the industry shat out Trank as quickly as it welcomed him.
😂
He kind of had it coming. If he wanted to be an auteur and have 100% control, he shouldn't have agreed to do a summer super hero movie.
@jeffreymilhorn-bx5jrNICHOLAS ROBBED ME BLIND! Don't trust his tricks, it's all a ploy to leave you penniless
@@Bulletsandblockbusters "Yeah, Barney's right, we're almost out of beer!" Can you get rid of all these sockpuppet crypto scam replies?
I love when the bots have conversations in comments 😂
I know people don't like the portal thing from this film, but it's not completely out of nowhere.
It's more based on the Ultimate universe's Fantastic Four, where they got their powers via dimensional travel instead of space travel.
💯
I liked it more than the let's go to space with my friends origin.
@@Bulletsandblockbustersaloso colecthio. The x men fntastic four move was planed in 2010 but the did frent x men fntastic foyr crossover planned to be wrteen by warren ellus
@@thrashpuppy2010agreed. It feels more modern. When the FF were originally created in 1961, dreams of exploring the stars and going the moon was the idea. But now we’ve already been to space a lot…so inter dimensional travel would be the next big thing. I like it.
I actually prefer parts of that origin. Space is fun and cool, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for humanity. We haven't made any concrete steps to go back to the Moon or even land on Mars. So the N-Zone is an interesting concept that opens up so many other doors for the story. I think Annihilus should have been the villain if you take the N-Zone route for a story.
I wish more directors and studios would take inspiration from Raimi's Spiderman trilogy. It was able to be serious and campy. Had dark moments, but also light ones. Not everything needs to be dark and gritty all the time.
Finally! Somebody said it!
@Alf-gm7tf I think Raimi would be an awesome director for a Batman movie. Especially with his ability to balance serious and campy, but also sprinkle in some horror elements. I think it could work really well, especially using elements from Batman: the animated series like he used elements from Spiderman: the animated series for his Spiderman trilogy.
I think nobody can direct like Raimi other than Raimi himself. Even with the evil dead TV show, you notice the difference between the episodes he directed and the ones he only wrote... he's a God among humans
I think nobody can direct like Raimi other than Raimi himself. Even with the evil dead TV show, you notice the difference between the episodes he directed and the ones he only wrote... he's a God among humans
@@lucacriscuolo2989 I agree, and I think it's why Dr. Strange 2 was such a mess. It was his vision conflicting with the MCU vision. It almost felt like it held him back.
Awesome video! This really opened my eyes to Josh Trank. I was aware about how the fox studio had heavy involvement in the film, but I had no idea about his behavior on the project. Guess this explains why he hasn’t done any big movies in while.
Guy had one good idea and executed it well with chronicle and that’s about all he had. I know his father and step mom were connected to Hollywood
His career is definitely over
@@Zegeebwah he wrote and directed a $20 million movie a couple years ago. it didn't do amazing theatrically cause it ended up going digital due to covid (literally came out may 2020 lol). it seems like he's still able to get jobs
@@zootin6688 That is Capone 2020 which is very mediocre, its not that bad but not good either, kind of weak narrative, going around story that you already know what the end for Capone is, nothing new .... Thank to Covid it doesnt got theatrical release, otherwise critics would have trash it even more. Trank is really 1 hit wonder
@@EJD339 We didn't really need an American version of Akira set in Seattle. It was OK for what it was, but it wasn't a very original story.
Slaters version actually sounds a lot more interesting than the snooze fest we got
It's basically a choice between a director's revenge story, someone's fanfic, or a studio generic product.
@@CollegeDroputPowerpointsYou say that like it was Tranks plan all along to screw over a studio that gave him his first big break, Chronicle. Personally, it looks to me like Trank had a very specific, alternative take on the superhero genre. Him and Max Landis crafted an incredibly unique "superhero" style film with Chronicle that avoided most cliches (like the whole great power comes with great responsibility yada yada type hero cliches) and instead went with the idea of "what would 3 teens ACTUALLY do if they gained super powers?" I'm not trying to say Trank would've made a groundbreaking new film if he had been allowed to write and film what he wanted with Fantastic Four, but I agree with most other commenters saying his version would've at least been interesting and not a Simon Kinberg, Dark Phoenix snooze fest.
@@CollegeDroputPowerpoints😢
Yes!
Idk about galaktus being the main villain in the first movie in the earlier draft script but other than that I think slater script is pretty cool
Trank sounds like a nightmare. Why do the studios hire people who have contempt for the source material? It seems to happen often and usually results in a poor adaptation.
Studios like to take promising directors that have made one or two features, and then bring them onto huge franchises. They do this because it gives them hope that something fresh and good will be made, but they'll be new enough to be controlled by the studio.
My friends brother was the stunt double for Doom. He’s the one who was in all the reshoots.
That's sick, I actually liked this movie, good for him😊
I doubt it.
@@CalvaryProductions1 ok? If you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all
@@ThePie_only it’s not a mean thing. I just don’t exactly think that what he said is true. I mean, with all the misinformations spreading around the internet about everything, can you really blame me??
@@CalvaryProductions1 ehh, idk man, people are also mean for no reason, can you blame me?
This movie had a hellish production from start to finish.
That might have made a better movie than what came out
I remember seeing the trailers for this and thinking it looked awful. Seems like the studio and director share the blame on this one. Being caught off guard by the tone of the film is entirely on the studio for not monitoring more closely though
He did what they hired him to do, they were being silly. They should have interfered more during filming, but also supported Trank. He clearly went a bit mad.
all they had to do was read the script. If he didn't want to do what they wanted, they could have hired someone else.
When whe movie began by presenting the mindset of a young Reed Richards, I thought I was in for a great movie. And that impression was enforced with the prototype scene in the basement. Then everything went south pretty quickly.
The team didn't felt like a family, the movie was esthetically so dark, a lot of the story took place inside the same facility or whatever, there was a whole 5 year time jump in between that wasn't as impactful as it should have and Victor turned into a villain simply because he has to.
This movie is like a nice mug that they broke and repaired using glue, with some pieces either missing or replaced, and no idea of what made it great initially.
man, what a nightmare. I can just imagine having to deal with all those problems, both as trank, and the other people trying to cope with all that craziness.
I think it was Honest Trailers that at one point said that a movie about the making of this movie would be more interesting than this version of Fantastic Four turned out to be.
The Incredibles is still the best Fantastic Four film to date. I don’t think any future projects will top it.
The Incredibles is terrible. F4 silver surfer is better.
@@drumnbassdan Rise of the Silver Surfer is one of the most terrible superhero movies ever made. It killed the franchise. The most boring parts of Incredibles 1 and 2 are better than all Fantastic Four movies combined.
i agree. i just said it was better than the Incredibles @@Crimson28
That does not count but yeah also I'm just gonna you know despite the recent years with the MCU but I would like to see the interpretation of Fantastic Four in that universe
@@Crimson28Nah those F4 movies are great
I recently watched some other UA-camr's version of this, and yours is WAY better. Thank you. Keep it up!!!
Wow, thanks!
Trank had no right not to take his anger on Kate because he was forced to cast her she didn't do anything wrong she even went to do research on her character Sue Storm but was told not to do that.
Worst person to direct a FF movie
Trank just wanted to be different for the sake of being different because he had no attachment to the source material. He wanted a Fantastic Four in name only, a complete deconstruction; and then just acted out somewhat unnecessarily when the things he wanted just flat out weren't working for everyone, between the higher up's concerns and even the way he clashed with his own cast in ways that sound so childish and unprofessional, he just wasn't acknowledging this and ultimately seems like he just shut down and then when all was said and done he blamed everybody else a lot but himself a little too little.
He should've just left the project or got fired. He just simply wasn't right for it at all.
I remember watching this in theatres and sharply noticing how much I actually like the Trank First half, and then boom, when the studio recuts happen for the second half of the movie, I and all my friends stopped liking it. We didn't know it at the time and we just thought "Why was the second half of the movie so much worse than the first half???" and then I eventually learned about the reshoots and recuts and such. I wish they would have just let Trank cook.
I was REALLY digging the horror inspired elements and I think experimentation is good. You wanna bright kid friendly F4? We got two of those in the 2000's. Go watch those. Ya know?
No, the first half was garbage, too. It was as boring, tedious and poorly-acted with a whole bunch of nothing happening as the second half. All it confirmed was the movie might’ve been mostly garbage instead of complete garbage had they let him cook.
1st half was terrible too 😂
@@edwardhewitt9229 what character or plot development? The first half was as boring to sit through with a whole bunch of NOTHING happening as the second half was. 🤦♂
I agree with you man. I don’t know why people didn’t like it. I liked how new and weird it felt m
Oh, right. Of course I want a bright FF movie. Wait, nevermind. I *totally* want Marvel's First Family to be dark, gritty, and realistic. God forbid, there isn't a FF inspired film with darker themes/tone but still able keep it light. Oh...
Trank sounds like the Edgy teenager that writes gritty and "mature" stories based on Sesame Street.
Great video :) Just a small correction ... Chronicle was not made on the basis of Trank's own script. Max Landis was a screenwtiter on that one.
So they hired Trank to make a Fantastic 4 movie, and he made Chronicle again.
Some of these added scenes looked absolutely amazing. Would have liked to have seen that version
Nice. Another great video. Your videos are one of the highlights of my week man. Thanks as always!
Wow, that makes me so happy to hear. Thank you and glad you enjoy them so much!
@@Bulletsandblockbusters me and my daughters always watch your videos everytime a new one comes out. We dig it.
That honestly made my day to hear. Thank you!
@@Bulletsandblockbustersyeh msyb Josh trank shou j been balowed yo mskmr th move he wanted to make lith guy wanted to mor if a sci fi horror movie and msyb fix cou hsv just let him do it imgin if the got mdkevth mo he wanted it cou hsv been on mor intresting suphero moves out there imagine unvrksble meets th fly
It’s absolutely wild to me that people are saying MCU is in a bad state when we had movies like this in the superhero genre just popping up right and left. Sure, we have She Hulks and Secret Invasions but then we got BANGERS like Loki, Wandavision, Shang Chi, and Moon Knight.
Absolutely love this series! Another awesome video dude! However it does suck to hear that this is one film that sounds like it would not have had any sort of good cut with who was at the helm of the project.
At most it would be a cult classic. Chronicle had some bad reviews for how dark it became and I think thats because the mass audience dont like things that are "negative."
Trank should have just done Chronicle part 2.
I do like this movie, or at least what it set out to do. The minimalist beginning leading into 90s Sci-fi wonder into pure body horror is legitimately great and reminded me a lot of Ang Lee's Hulk, which I also really liked. It's when it has to be a superhero movie is when it goes wrong and it goes wrong hard and fast
It may still have worked. Fox didnt know what they had asked for, so were surprised when Trank delivered what they asked for, rather than a slightly more serious take on the fantastic four
Nah. The only thing I wanted out of this movie when it came out was a good action figure of the thing...with pants. This movie was so trash that we didn't get any good action figures if any at all
Thank you for making this, I've been recently telling everyone how compelling the pre-production and concept art for Fant4stic was. I really like the idea of a superhero body horror so it's a shame Fox fumbled that.
This movie is so unmemorable, I'd watch it again but in a week I'll probably forget what happened
They didn't even call themselves the Fantastic Four by the End of the Movie.
They should have shot Slater’s version, no matter how expensive it was gonna be. Sounds amazing.
i love how theyre like, “we need our own christopher nolan, GET ME TRANK”
I heard there was different ideas for X-Men Dark Phoenix before that film was made. Presumably there was an alternate ending of the film that was made where the X-Men fought the Dark Phoenix outside the United Nations building. Maybe you could do a video on that in the future.
The train sequence in Dark Phoenix was a reshoot. I'm not sure how much of the final act was a reshoot though.
Oddly, i like this unique take on the Fantastic Four. I wish it was fulfilled.
As soon as Josh Trank decided to be a numb skull and not listen to/disregard Jeremy Slater who cooked up an absolute masterpiece of a script, this movie was doomed. Sad to see but can't say that it wasn't deserved.
What a clown also makes sense that he hated the avengers
Nope, trunk's idea was pitch perfect. If you think about the characters it is actually genius. We already had avengers we did not need another carbon copy. The studio should have not intervened , they did the movie just to make it, so why care anyways. Even the coat would have been lower with the trunk's version. You brought the guy that made you a blockbuster already, let him fking cook. Slater's idea sounds like a second hand fart.
I like Chronicle a lot and I really like the idea of the Scanners/Fly mix, but there was no way this film was going to end well. The studio wanted one thing and Trank another. I imagine if there actually is a Director cut out there, it's maybe fine. If he'd been able to execute his vision it might have been good, but just so different from what they wanted
After seeing this vid i think Trank should've just done his own thing. He wouldn't have been restricted by source material and such. He would have had no problem pitching and greenlighting an original film based on the ideas ideas that were mentioned i.e. A Scanner and The Fly mix with inspiration from The Fantastic Four, after his success with chronicle.
And none of them were what the audience or fans wanted
They should've fired Trank and found a good director to shoot Slater's film.
While maybe not the best idea for a Fantastic Four movie, I liked the idea of a “body horror” F
superhero film and would of liked to have seen Trank’s original version
Agreed I think especially with the X-men, body horror is a good way to approach some of their powers.
*would have* not "would of"
Honestly, i would have loved to see tranks version, it seems like a great and refreshing take, but i also would have loved to see slaters. Both could have done really well and been great movies if they could have been done in their own
The first half of this movie was amazing. I really wish we could’ve seen Trank’s vision fully realized
That first script would have been amazing. Adding Annihulus would have been such an awesome movie. Especially with his control rod being the thing to create victors armor. Such a shame man.
A Cronenberg-esque Body-Horror-Version of this Movie actually sounds interesting and there *are* some bits of that left in the movie, like Reed coming across half reformed and panicking Ben trapped in his cell or the shot of Reed being experimented on and his limbs streched in all directions. I'd be honestly curious to watch this version of Fant4stic.
Alas, if will probably never happen. Shame, since the general Idea is interesting in concept and I actually like the Cast.
I feel like Fox should have given support early on, to mould it an push for some fun, instead of giving him free reign then destroying what they specifically hired him to do.
the scene where doom walks thru the halls blowing brains up, pretty cool tbh
@@myra-yves Yeah, reminded me of _Akira._
If Josh Trank taught us anything, is that you can't go from a low-budget movie to a big-budget movie
You need to go from low to medium, and then from medium to big
Is all about gaining credibility. You never know when a studio is gonna think they can control you. You need to show them that you know what you're doing better than them.
Yeah. Giving Trank the keys to an F1 car after driving his first beater car probably wasn't the best idea (not to say Chronicle was a beater car, but for a movie that didn't cost much, it was a bit of a miracle it was as good as it was and made as much as it did). I wish Trank had told the studio very clearly his vision BEFOREHAND so that they could've been like "oh, I see" and just let him down slowly that he wasn't getting the job. I think Fox was on a deadline though and wanted to retain the rights to the Fant4stic franchise. They probably trusted him enough to move forward and, well, we got what we got. I definitely don't blame Trank, at least not entirely.
MCU does this all the time though
@@caelanmurie-gq2sj that's because most of them are directors for hire
That's why most of them don't have lasting careers afterwards
@LeonardoKlotz no? MCU specifically hires up-and-coming filmmakers. Technically, you can say every director in the mcu is a director for hire. They have these planned out years in advance.
@@caelanmurie-gq2sj the only reason why they do this is so they can control them. The smaller the director, the more they wanted to control them
In the beginning, they hired stablished directors to helm their first movies, and that was before Disney took over
After that, the bigger they got, the bigger was their control over the movies
They not only were getting up-and-coming directors, but also TV directors
They didn't wanted their filmmakers to think outside the box when they shouldn't. That's why they got rid of Edgar Wright and put a director for hire like Peyton Reed.
There's a reason why they usually don't pick stablished filmmakers like Darren Aronofsky, Matt Reeves, Jordan Peele, Greta Gerwig
It doesn't matter how talented they are, if Disney can't control them, they won't even go to the "maybe pile"
That's what Hollywood has been doing recently, especially with franchise movies
It sounds as though Trank wasn’t the right fit from the jump. I like the idea of the superhero-transformation -as-body-horror film he wanted to do and it could have been a great piece. However, the studio clearly had something altogether different. This is a story of the city mouse and the country mouse trying to live happily in the suburbs: it doesn’t work for either one
No way, they did it really dirty on Jeremy Slater 💀, with his script and his concepts and ideas it could have been the best Fantastic Four movie.
Too bad it wasn't, but the good thing is that Jeremy Slater was able to continue with Marvel with Moon Knight and is now working on James Gunn's new DCU, equally a shame he's not the writer of the new Fantastic Four MCU movie.
Fantastic Four as a "horror story" is a terrible idea...Trank had no idea what makes Fantastic Four so iconic...doing a "what if" could work with this concept, but for The main story, doing this with the Fantastic Four is idiotic and the studio was right in this one, they just made a mistake and hired the wrong guy for the project.
The only one who ever seemed to enjoy their powers was Johnny Storm. Ben Hated being The Thjng so how is that NOT Horror story.
@@Fenris30 Bruce Banner hates being the Hulk and being feared, persecuted, losing the love of his life, he tries to commit suicide, it's the story of Frankenstein......but just for one character the Avengers movie should have been a horror story also...no....The Fantastic Four is as Toreto says: "about Family"...the closest thing to "the incredibles" in live action....not a horror story.
I still want this version of the film.
Trank is the ideal of example of why you need to bring in people who're passionate about the project they've accepted to do. If you've got a vision for an artsy-fartsy project, save that for an original film and not an IP knowing full-well that it's not going to go over well with all corners of the Earth. I've got ideas for deep, thought-provoking "think about it!"-type films but if I was tasked with making a Fantastic Four movie it'll show the best of what the comicbook has to offer and not some downer, depressing "but what if family sad!?" nonsense, lol.
It should have been a red flag, as soon as he didn’t have a interest in comic books lmao
💯
It’s not just this film, there are other good Fantastic 4 scripts like the mid-to-late 90s Michael France version and the early 2000s Doug Petrie one, but for some reason the movies don’t work. They could make good What Could Have Been videos, as they’re both online to read
As a big fantastic four fan I remember being so hype watching this not caring how actually bad the film was. I just wanted a sequel so bad 😂
Same
Why would you want a sequel to a film you knew was really bad?
@@rustcohle6149huh
@@R1ch4d8 f4 fans are on the floor trying to eat crumbs for any content other than one title book in the comics.
Thanks for this, it really wraps everything up. I was very hopeful for this film when it was announced. I loved the idea of the negative zone (planet zero) instead of cosmic rays in space. Novel in the early 60's, but another dimension is the new frontier. I loved the slightly more serious, gritty tone, something I liked in general about Fox's superhero films versus the more comedy-driven MCU films. But there's no denying the movie falls apart after little more than half an hour. With 20/20 hindsight, it would have been better if Trank had trusted the writer he hired and gone with the story he developed, and done his rewrites off of it, as opposed to being in such opposition to every element of the story. I mean, Annihilus, Doom, Galactus and Mole Man in one film!!! Fox double-downed on the problems by slashing the budget and thinking they could somehow cobble together a film post principal photography. Fox's superhero films are characterized by good characters and strong action - you can't beat the opening to X2, or Quicksilver in DOFP. But this film had a dizzying lack of action, coherence, and ultimately shows what you get when no one in the production trusts anyone else in the production.
I agree. If Trank just tried to add some extra spice to a story about Annilhilus and Doom with one of the others as an end credits scene it would have been a decent movie at the very least. At least if we're going with the summary we heard in the video.
Kind of funny that the best parts of the film are the ones that were rewritten and reshot without Trank. I just hope the new one is great because F4 and X-men are my favorite thing and the only real Marvel comics I read. We deserve it.
Your UA-cam is probably one of the best for cancelled movies I didn't know a lot of the things about this film
Thanks!
@@Bulletsandblockbustersyou're welcome glad I found your youtube
Thanks for the vid! I've still never seen this movie, though I always wanted to know more of the behind the scene story.
They had the right writer, just not the director. Josh Trank wasn't a Marvel guy or even a DC guy, he just wanted to make his movie without the clamor from the studio and its producers, it's the only reason why Chronicle works perfectly as a one-off story, no sequel or franchise needed it was his story the way he wanted to tell and share, it was just a story about three kids discovering superpowers but set in the realistic world. With Fantastic 4, it just didn't garner off his interest in the way Chris Nolan wanted to make Batman set in a realistic world, he just didn't have the heart to make it or make it in a way to satisfy the studio. Overall, I feel that Josh was in a no-win situation to make his movie or a movie that everyone would love.
I still find it hard to believe someone who directed Chronicle, objectively a really well made and creative film, could fail so miserably on another comic book movie.
I think I read somewhere Trank had some help directing Chronicle, but I can't find the article anywhere and have no idea if it's true.
I did enjoy a lot of ideas from this fantastic four but goddamn was it all over the place. I honestly would’ve like to see Transks full vision just to see how unique it would’ve been. I doubt I would’ve enjoyed that version of the film but I would’ve loved to see what a complete unhinged creative freedom looks like
Yes
The most interesting thing about this film will always be the production nightmare. I think Trank wasn’t a good pick imo. No clue how the F4 is so hard to adapt but man the MCU can only do better.
With the state of the the current MCU they’ll nuke the fantastic 4 with pandering and race and gender swapping
1:46 well that explains why it’s generally faithful to Ultimate Fantastic Four
Trank is example of why you shouldn't hired an up an coming director to work on a major IP like F4. Especially one with temper and over grandiose ideas like him.
I remember being so hyped for this... As Trank had made one of my favorite movies of all time: Chronicle.
Not to mention Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller being totally awesome actors. The first trailer looked so good.
Whatever happened to Miles Teller? Feels like he disappeared after J.K. Simmons shouted at him in Whiplash.
@InevitableOption-ic2vx You're right! I forgot that movie even existed haha.
The gift that keeps on giving.
Sounds like the studio was actually the “good guys” this time around. Whereas Trank did not care about the source material, his writer or the cast. It had to be his way through and through at every turn. Even though his way was the wrong way
This film was one of the first films I left the theatre saying “my god that was terrible”
Amazing breakdown 👏🏾can’t wait until the next video!
Thank you!
I always kinda enjoyed the 2015 as a guilty pleasure. Wish we could have seen Trank’s cut.
Trank seems like the type that always feels like he is the smartest person in the room.
In the comics, it took the Fantastic Four a little time to become a full-blown super hero adventure comic. Back then Marvel was pumping out monster stories and others like the Twilight Zone, and when the FF started, they retained a lot of the flavor of the other stories. In their first issue they fought a monster. They didn't get their costumes until the third issue I think.
Awesome video! I watch all your videos when I'm stuck in traffic on the way & back to work! Keep it up! 🙌🏻
Thanks!!!
Trank not considering Slater's version after hiring him for his comic book knowledge feels really dumb. Why hire someone if you're gonna just reject all their proposals?
There was an article about this ages ago I could never find again so thanks for this
From what I remember, the film would've been too dark for a decent 3D post conversion, as 3D hates the dark and Trank was obviously going for a dimly lit horror motif.
I have to say, Trank's FANTASTIC FOUR felt to me like it would've been a decent sci-fi/horror movie if only it didn't have the Fantastic Four brand on it. As a sci-fi/horror movie of some other name (and with characters having a different powerset), it would've done fine.
I'd love to see Trank get to have his director's cut in the future.
I would have love to see Trank's vision on full display. I think the idea of making a more grounded story with a little inspiration from Chronicle is why he was hired in the first place. If there was issues on set with actors then that's a different story.
Could you do a video about the original script for Prometheus? It was called Alien: Engineers and was was written by Jon Spaihts. It eventually became Prometheus after rewrites by Damon Lindelof, most known as the writer of Lost, Watchmen HBO, the JJ Abrams Star Trek movies, and World War Z among other things
Fantastic Four are NOT superheroes. They are more dedicated to exploration and science. From time to time they do battle or just out smart them bad guys. Every movie version turns them into superheroes.
The Doom head pops were pretty sweet 👍
Having been a fan of the Fan4 for my whole life, its sad to see what has happened with the live action portrayals, even though I somewhat like them all in their own way. The ‘94 unreleased movie was a perfect adaptation of the origins if you overlook the shotty special effects and animation. The 2000’s was campy and lighthearted, with fun chemistry and good vibes, but terrible galactus portrayal. But Fan4stic just feels unfinished and doesnt bring the love of the team like the comics do. I’m happy you made this video because now I can at least appreciate what Trank tried to do with Slater on the project, but its a shame his vision wasnt produced the way he wanted.
The original origin of Dr Doom in the comics is probably the greatest villain origin story of all time (I read it in Bring On The Bad Guys at least 100 times as a kid)… why do people insist on f@cking with it? It’s perfect.
Agree
Because nowadays no villain is allowed to be villainous, they always have to be misunderstood or treated badly to justify why they're evil; all the companies now want to have sympathetic villains that act and look cool. That's why I'm glad that Jack Horner from the last Puss n Boots movie was just straight up evil because he wanted to and had none of the nowadays common villain traits.
@@djpegaohe's not just straight up evil. It's played off for laughs. So your point is invalid.
Wow, can’t believe I have to go on living knowing the fact that we were supposed to get an X-men v fantastic 4 movie…
If you read the source material for the Fantastic Four, and think the movie needs to be gloomy, grounded, and horrific, you don't actually want to make a Fantastic Four movie.
There is a LOT of good potential with space explorers coming back Wrong, and I've seen Warren Ellis explore it effectively multiple times in his stories. It's even clear in a few of them that those stories are directly referencing the FF as inspiration. However, part of why those stories work is because they aren't actually Fantastic Four stories. There's plenty of interesting stories mixing superheroes and body horror that can be told. A Fantastic Four movie isn't one of them.
This
Sounds like he didn't want to make a superhero film. The transformation is only part of the story, but it's one everyone seems so hung up on. I'm so tired of origin stories. The point of adaptation is to elevate the story into a new medium, not as a vehicle to make an homage. We all saw the Fly, it's fantastic; make something else.
Exactly, these studios need to stop hiring directors who don't actually wanna adapt superhero stories.
it's never a good sign to hire someone who doesn't care for superheroes to make a superhero movie
Lol. Trank wanted to turn FF into Tetsuo Iron man. The guys egos are hilarious.
This is what I’ve been waiting for - hell yes!!
This is probably a rare occasion where the studio and writiers were actually trying to save the movie because of Josh Trank's overwhelming approach and bizarre choices. The fact he claimed his film is better than 99% of what cbm was out makes you question if he's even a fan at all. I could maybe see this "body horror, dark and gloom" tone work for a Hulk movie, but NOT The Fantastic Four. And you can tell the original ideas the writer had felt like a perfect modern F4 movie.
This film in particular is why most well-known hared cbm fail. They aren't made by filmmakers who were fans and loved the characters and comics, they're just there for the money. The Dark Knight trilogy worked, not because Nolan was embarrassed by the comics, but because they knew to balance the characters in a realistic world and tell good stories with good characters. But also, Batman or Daredevil are characters that work in realistic and grounded stories, but anything sci-fi or supernatural can't be realistic. Sure, maybe grounded in some sort of humanity like The Amazing Spider-Man, but straight up changing the lore, rules, and powers by limiting it, then it just doesn't work and misses the point of the comics' grand scope and adventure.
Yeah if I’m being honest slater should’ve been kept on as writer he actually made the concept of a dark fantastic four work because he understands you need to balance comedy with grit like most other comic book movies that succeeded the body horror was the only thing I really liked about the movie as a kid it made me excited for doom but then he showed up again and it just wasn’t good compared to Johnny or Reed
slater ideas for the film were perfect. if they had handed him another writer to write more character work, and _obviously_ another director like brad bird it would have been an amazing movie. let's see what the MCU does!
This movie was doomed to fail from the start. I really don’t think josh trank was the right man to direct fantastic four since he really wasn’t into superhero comics in the first place. He never even had a love for the fantastic four. Fox literally only made this movie just so they can keep the rights from marvel. Having the movie be a me too dark knight style movie with a gritty and dark setting for marvel's first family was definitely not gonna mix well at all.
Honestly if this was an original IP without any characters or connections to Marvel, I think it would have been an interesting movie similar to Chronicle.
Lesson to be learn from this never hired a directors who only make one movie should hired the one who have already direct alot and have enough experience
Jesus why is it so hard to make a F4 movie. It’s so simple, the F4 are scientists who got into a freak accident and became superheroes after developing superpowers and now go on absurd adventures and battle fantastical foes. Reed is the leader and father figure of the team with a brilliant mind and although he may seem emotionally distant he deeply cares for his family. Sue is the mother figure and co leader who tries to keep the team focused and is very protective. Johnny is the little brother figure who’s the heart and soul of the team and a womanizer. Ben is the protective big brother figure of the team who’s always ready for a good fight but also has insecurities about his appearance and his relationship to his religion.
Doom is someone who experienced great trauma after watching both of his parents sacrifice themselves to make sure Victor had a chance at survival due to the oppression of the Romani people under a violent dictatorship and everything Doom has now he worked hard for, his powers, becoming ruler of Latveria, and his suit was achieved by doom and Doom alone and I wish the movies would trying to stop make his origins tied to the Four and stop making him some random dude. Sorry for the rant but my god it should not be this hard.