Fantastic Four reborn! - - - - Part 13

[bubbadoom]

Now I've never been a FF fan admittedly, but hasn't their main draw always been the dysfunctional family aspect?

No.

 

[scatterax]

The main draws for FF is the science fantasy, the chemistry between characters, and the villains.

 

[bubbadoom]

The main draws for FF is the science fantasy, the chemistry between characters, and the villains.

Yes ...

and the great Jack Kirby concepts and art that started it all...

 

[Scarecrow_King]

I've always loved the way Waid explained them at the end of his first story arc way back when. He called them explorers. At their core, the FF isn't about superheroics or saving the day. They do that stuff, but it all stems from them trying to learn more about the world and stretch the boundaries of science.

I hope they pull a lot from Waid's run for this movie.

 

[OriginalMiles]

My only wish is for this movie to be good.

 

[bubbadoom]

My only wish is for this movie to be good.

My guess is that this is what we all want - sadly I have little faith in this one being that based upon what we are hearing...

 

[guitarsingerguy]

My guess is that this is what we all want - sadly I have little faith in this one being that based upon what we are hearing...

I'm not even a fan, and all I want is a good film.

 

[Orba]

I was thinking about the rumored $100 million budget and what it means. The two Marvel adaptions of Fox's that were cheapest are X-Men in 2000 with a budget of $75 million and Daredevil in 2003 with a budget of $78 million. When you look at them it seems that FF's budget isn't so bad (even though The Wolverine got a budget of $120 million) but if you adjust those figures for inflation then you get about $100 million for both (of course I could be doing it wrong).

So FFINO will have the equivalent budget to Daredevil or X-Men but will have one lead character that will be entirely CG and the other three that will require heavy CG work due to the highly visual nature of their powers, and thats not even counting any other characters that could appear (like the rumoured second baddie).

This shows how little faith Fox have in the film, they are giving it their bargain basement budget. I can't wait to see all the reasons the film comes up with to avoid having The Thing on camera.

 

[Dark Raven]

Ben will probably only slowly become the Thing over the course of the movie, gradually transforming, and then only in full rock mode in the finale. Torch will probably be like the Roger Corman version who can only initially shoot flames out of his hands. No-one has seen that on the big screen yet, since the Corman version was hidden from the public view, so it would be something new.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

I was thinking about the rumored $100 million budget and what it means. The two Marvel adaptions of Fox's that were cheapest are X-Men in 2000 with a budget of $75 million and Daredevil in 2003 with a budget of $78 million. When you look at them it seems that FF's budget isn't so bad (even though The Wolverine got a budget of $120 million) but if you adjust those figures for inflation then you get about $100 million for both (of course I could be doing it wrong).

So FFINO will have the equivalent budget to Daredevil or X-Men but will have one lead character that will be entirely CG and the other three that will require heavy CG work due to the highly visual nature of their powers, and thats not even counting any other characters that could appear (like the rumoured second baddie).

This shows how little faith Fox have in the film, they are giving it their bargain basement budget. I can't wait to see all the reasons the film comes up with to avoid having The Thing on camera.

Ben will probably only slowly become the Thing over the course of the movie, gradually transforming, and then only in full rock mode in the finale. Torch will probably be like the Roger Corman version who can only initially shoot flames out of his hands. No-one has seen that on the big screen yet, since the Corman version was hidden from the public view, so it would be something new.

I'm betting the budget will be around $75 million. They've been shooting for a week and there's almost no footprint. You can't do that with even a $100 million film. They've been shooting for a week with a cast of 6.

It's absolutely clear that their goal is to simply make a film - there's not even a pretense of making an exceptional film. There are no exceptional people associated with this project, so it would be naïve to expect anything but a mediocre film.

This probably will be close the Corman effort. Sure, it will be a little bigger than that, but I'm pretty sure it will be painfully obvious when we're sitting in the theater (if any of us bother to go) that, like with the Corman film, the goal was to put something vaguely like the Fantastic Four on screen at the lowest price possible. No exceptional FF film will come out of that environment.

 

[Orba]

They are probably not being given extra for the 3D conversion so that will have to come out of the shooting budget.

 

[Zarex]

This probably will be close the Corman effort. Sure, it will be a little bigger than that, but I'm pretty sure it will be painfully obvious when we're sitting in the theater (if any of us bother to go) that, like with the Corman film, the goal was to put something vaguely like the Fantastic Four on screen at the lowest price possible. No exceptional FF film will come out of that environment.

Though the best case scenario for me is rights reversion, this is number two (both literally and figuratively). FOX clearly has no confidence in the project, so we may be looking at a very short cinematic release in the fall. There's no way the studio keeps its current brutal release date. And with the participants bearing no resemblance whatsoever to either the classic 616 or Ultimate teams, Marvel's First Family may be able to come out of Trank's FFINO relatively unscathed.

So while a quick turnaround is unlikely even if Disney/Marvel is able to threaten/cajole/bargain the rights away from FOX in 2015, the FF may be salvageable in our lifetimes. Present a mature team with Franklin and Valeria in tow, rebrand them as "Marvel's FF", tease them in a future Guardians or Avengers film, sell a Thing-Hulk slugfest. With FOX fixated on putting an FF-ish film in theatres, FFINO may prove to be the best possible scenarioto for Marvel fans.

 

[Donut]

You do know that if a fan thinks of something then the studio never will

 

[bubbadoom]

Ben will probably only slowly become the Thing over the course of the movie, gradually transforming, and then only in full rock mode in the finale. Torch will probably be like the Roger Corman version who can only initially shoot flames out of his hands. No-one has seen that on the big screen yet, since the Corman version was hidden from the public view, so it would be something new.

I hope they do not go this route, but if they do maybe Fox should just call it THE FOUR and save FANTASTIC for when they have the budget to make it that...

 

[Dark Raven]

I hope they do not go this route, but if they do maybe Fox should just call it THE FOUR and save FANTASTIC for when they have the budget to make it that...

Maybe Fox will. They might prefer a one word title like Chronicle, so they could just call this movie "Four".

 

[Krystal]

Maybe Fox will. They might prefer a one word title like Chronicle, so they could just call this movie "Four".

That would be 'truth in advertising' and they have no interest in truth regarding this project.

 

[Dark Raven]

That would be 'truth in advertising' and they have no interest in truth regarding this project.

Well "Four" sounds like something that is grounded and gritty and not as whimsical as "Fantastic Four", which Fox might believe might put people off. "Four" could be a serious and science-based drama about a *****e who starts gaining intelligence, a skinny guy who begins developing lumps on his body, a wannabe basketball player who can shoot flames through his fingertips and a cold, mousey woman who becomes an invisible cold, mousey woman.

 

[Krystal]

Well "Four" sounds like something that is grounded and gritty and not as whimsical as "Fantastic Four", which Fox might believe might put people off. "Four" could be a serious and science-based drama about a *****e who starts gaining intelligence, a skinny guy who begins developing lumps on his body, a wannabe basketball player who can shoot flames through his fingertips and a cold, mousey woman who becomes an invisible cold, mousey woman.

I just hope it's good.

 

[The Guard]

I'm betting the $100 million budget has more to do with Trank's approach to filmmaking than anything else.

Look what he did with $12 million in CHRONICLE.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

I'm betting the $100 million budget has more to do with Trank's approach to filmmaking than anything else.

Look what he did with $12 million in CHRONICLE.

That's a damn good point. Chronicle certainly didn't look like a $12 million movie, and Nolan himself, for all the Nolan can do no wrongers, said that the budget almost doesn't matter because you're going to run out of money if it's 12 million or 200 million. At some point, you've just gotta get creative.

 

[Donut]

At some point, you've just gotta get creative.

The actors can take a pay cut & no caterers on set etc

 

[bubbadoom]

Speaking of origins, I am wondering if it would be best to gloss over the origin a bit. The problem with the first film is it didn't have a story besides the origin and for the FF the origin is just an excuse to give them powers, it doesn't have a character arc like the Spider-Man or Iron Man origins.

Maybe they could cover the FF's origin in a news broadcast in the beginning of the film and then movie to the main story, get to the real meat. They already did an FF origin film, now it would be good if we saw something else.

The biggest problem I had with Amazing Spider-Man, is because they did the origin again, it felt too similar to the first film and that ruined my enjoyment of that film. Plus Fox would want to make their film as different as the 2005 film as possible, having the origin and Doom again seems covering too much of the old territory.

What do ya know, something we agree on...

 

[guitarsingerguy]

The actors can take a pay cut & no caterers on set etc

They picked a good state to film in honestly. Louisiana has a pretty solid movie industry due to all the tax cuts and incentives, and from what I understand the Celtic Media Center studio is extremely nice, so their $ is gonna go further than normal.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/03/fantastic-four-star-says-tone-of-film-will-be-grounded

IGN: You’re now gearing up for The Fantastic Four. Excited?

Jordan: Yeah, man. Everybody is so excited. Josh, the cast, all the producers, Fox. It’s exciting times. It’s been in the works for a little bit of time and to see it finally come together is special.

IGN: It means reuniting with your Chronicle director, Josh Trank. Were you surprised how well that movie did?

Jordan: Yeah…we made that movie with nothing. It was all up in Josh’s head, and he’s an incredible director and visionary, and he thought it all out.

IGN: It means you’ll also be reuniting with Miles Teller, your co-star from That Awkward Moment, who is playing Mr. Fantastic…

Jordan: Yeah, man, he’s growing on me like a fungus!

IGN: Do you think he’s like the young John Cusack?

Jordan: A little bit. He would tell you he’s his own person, but he does have that feel to him sometimes. But he’s an extremely talented dude, and I’m looking forward to seeing his range and see what he can do, and add something to this character and get his take on it. It’s going to be fun, man.

IGN: Have you met Chris Evans, who played the Human Torch in the previous incarnation?

Jordan: Yeah, I ran into him at an event not too long ago and I had a chance to speak to him about it. He’s excited too!

IGN: Have you met Stan Lee yet?

Jordan: I have not had a chance to meet him, but I do have a couple of autographed comic books, signed by him, but I haven’t personally met him, no.

IGN: So you’re a comic collector?

Jordan: Yeah. I’ve got some Fantastic Four ones. I’ve got Ultimate Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, The Avengers. I’ve got a gang of comic books I’ve been collecting over the years.

IGN: So you must be pretty stoked to be a part of the Marvel family?

Jordan: Isn’t that crazy? Yeah, man, being part of the Marvel family...that word, Marvel, has such a weight to it, man. To be a part of that family is something.

IGN: What do you think the tone of Josh’s version will be like?

Jordan: Tonally, I can say it’s going to be something grounded. It’ll be about the characters. We’re getting down to the nuts and bolts of acting, with this larger-than-life ‘bigger world’ idea. So it’s going to be pretty cool.

 

[Dark Raven]

He said Chris Evans was excited. But he didn't say he was excited about FFINO. Evans could have been excited about his own Cap movie, or some arousing woman he saw at that event.