Any FANTASTIC FOUR Movie Talk is About Maintaining Franchise Value it Still Has Left



Last summer one of the biggest super hero genre disappointments was released by Fox when they tried to reboot the FANTASTIC FOUR. Production issues, terrible reviews, a badly re-written script and only $167 million at the worldwide box office should be enough to forget and move on from trying to reboot it again or even attempt a sequel.

But the fact remains that Fox owns the live action movie rights for one of Marvel's oldest super hero franchises. There's good reason the Fantastic Four are referred to as 'Marvel's First Family.'

So while Fox is still figuring out what to do about last summer's misfire, all they can do right now is talk up hopeful plans they still have for Fantastic Four to maintain a confident value of its live action rights. For instance, if Disney CEO Bob Iger sees last year's FANTASTIC FOUR as reason to make an offer to reacquire the rights, then he might make an offer to buy the franchise rights back to bring them back to Marvel Studios. If Fox simply gives up and doesn't sound like they're still interested in making more Fantastic Four movies, the franchise value is much, much lower for any potential offer.

However, Iger has mention that it's unlikely for Disney to buy any rights even though you gotta believe the Fantastic Four rights are desired by the braintrust at Marvel Studios. The franchise rights include: the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, the Negative Zone, Galactus Silver Surfer, Annihilus, Kang and many other characters connected to the rights deal.

The thought of Dr. Doom, Galactus and Silver Surfer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is thrilling enough to see why Fox is still talking about the franchise because there is some great value here. How, or if, Fox wants to continue remains to be seen but it hasn't stopped producer Simon Kinberg from talking up his interest in trying to fix the franchise in yet another movie.

Kinberg told the following to the Happy Sad Confused podcast, transcribed by Collider:

“I think the biggest takeaway for me [is that] the tone of the movie, while really interesting and ambitious, ran counter to the DNA of the source material. I think the source material of Fantastic Four is bright, optimistic, poppy in tone. There’s a sort of plucky spirit to those characters, and we made a darker, sort of body-horror kind of version of Fantastic Four, which again as I say it now sounds really interesting and cerebrally ambitious, but isn’t necessarily Fantastic Four. 
“It’s a big part of the plan going forward. Like I say, the biggest lesson learned is that Fantastic Four is a great comic book that has its own tone and voice, and we need to let that lead us… I would love to continue making movies with that cast.”

Note that Kinberg cites how the comic book already has a great tone and voice but then you realize Kinberg helped to co-write FANTASTIC FOUR. Sure, he probably learned a big lesson here, but he was also the one who helped craft the story by messing with the tone since he has a writer credit.

If Fox wants to take another swing at the franchise, it's time to bring in a new writer or writers. This isn't to say Kinberg is a bad writer but sometimes a person needs to realize they need to take a set back to bring in some fresh eyes and vision on a project.

Fox needs to look at FANTASTIC FOUR in one of three ways: 1.) Bring in a new writer(s) who knows the source material well and can bring the franchise to prominence. 2.) Swallow the lump in their throat and admit defeat by either giving the rights back to Marvel in a partnership deal similar to what Sony has done with Spider-Man or let Marvel Studios have right back. 3.) Let the rights simply revert back by not making another movie.

The first option is most likely where Fox should go with the franchise. The second option seems unlikely as its been reported that the relationship between Fox and Marvel is not a good one. And, finally, the third option is the one fans want the most but would take the longest to actually happen if Fox can't crack a good, source material-friendly Fantastic Four movie.

No matter what happens, Fantastic Four is somewhat in purgatory right now while Fox talks it up to maintain its franchise value and while trying to figure out what's next.