The "Keep Hope Alive" (that the rights can revert back to Marvel) thread - Part 8

[Flint Marko]

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

 

[Snikt]

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

Very true...except I haven't seen anything posted on any other entertainment websites. This forum and links to other forums are the only place I've read anything about behind-the-scenes drama for this flick.

Not saying it isn't true. But I would've expected to see info like this posted onto other major movie news websites.

 

[Eddie]

Very true...except I haven't seen anything posted on any other entertainment websites. This forum and links to other forums are the only place I've read anything about behind-the-scenes drama for this flick.

Not saying it isn't true. But I would've expected to see info like this posted onto other major movie news websites.

There's something funny going on those sites aren't wanting to talk about. Some of the major contributors with those sites have alluded to hearing bad things about the film, but they won't elaborate. Devin Faraci in particular said something on Twitter that was interesting, but he doesn't seem to want to discuss it further:

Devin Faraci
‏@devincf
Speaking of non-Marvel Studios Marvel movies: I've been hearing some troubling stuff about FANTASTIC FOUR. I'm still hopeful but very wary.

That tweet is interesting and (IMO) illuminating. The media is desperate for that new Fantastic Four to be good. They championed Trank and they really championed MBJ. Every indication was that the new FF would not be loyal to the source material, and fans could see it right away. Many film sites, however, wrote about the intriguing casting choices and Trank. They don't want to have egg on their face. It's beginning to look, however, like the fans were right. I suspect we won't see the **** really hit the fan until something comes up that these outlets have to acknowledge (bad trailer, negative public comments, etc.).

 

[Docker2.0]

Fox got what they paid for. They wanted this movie to be made cheap as possible............they got their wish. I don't see how they could possibly complain.

 

[Dark Raven]

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

Lol, why have you got quotes by Cyclopswasright in your signature?

 

[justanotherguy]

There's something funny going on those sites aren't wanting to talk about. Some of the major contributors with those sites have alluded to hearing bad things about the film, but they won't elaborate. Devin Faraci in particular said something on Twitter that was interesting, but he doesn't seem to want to discuss it further:

Devin Faraci
‏@devincf
Speaking of non-Marvel Studios Marvel movies: I've been hearing some troubling stuff about FANTASTIC FOUR. I'm still hopeful but very wary.

That tweet is interesting and (IMO) illuminating. The media is desperate for that new Fantastic Four to be good. They championed Trank and they really championed MBJ. Every indication was that the new FF would not be loyal to the source material, and fans could see it right away. Many film sites, however, wrote about the intriguing casting choices and Trank. They don't want to have egg on their face. It's beginning to look, however, like the fans were right. I suspect we won't see the **** really hit the fan until something comes up that these outlets have to acknowledge (bad trailer, negative public comments, etc.).

I agree with this. The media turned the backlash of MBJ's casting into a race thing, as if people can't have opinions, especially when he didn't have to audition. FTR, huge MBJ fan-would make a great superhero, (including some traditionally white characters)such as Richard Ryder, NightThrasher,Blade, WonderMan,Black Lighting,Static Shock,Kyle Rayner etc.

Trank made a modern age Blair Witch Project and Hollywood was his oyster.

 

[Art Freak]

Lol, why have you got quotes by Cyclopswasright in your signature?

Because I laugh every time I see it. Those quotes deserve to be spread like wildfire.

 

[Eddie]

I agree with this. The media turned the backlash of MBJ's casting into a race thing, as if people can't have opinions, especially when he didn't have to audition. FTR, huge MBJ fan-would make a great superhero, (including some traditionally white characters)such as Richard Ryder, NightThrasher,Blade, WonderMan,Black Lighting,Static Shock,Kyle Rayner etc.

Trank made a modern age Blair Witch Project and Hollywood was his oyster.

With MCU Ben Urich being played by Vondie Curtis-Hall:

I think MBJ could be an interesting candidate for his nephew Phil Urich (goblin villain, notably a Hobgoblin) if Marvel gets access to Spider-Man one way or another. I'm not opposed to race changes, but Johnny wasn't a great candidate for one, especially with Kate Mara playing Sue. It had nothing to do with Trank wanting to cast the best candidate for the role and everything to do with wanting to cast his buddy (as you mentioned, MBJ didn't have to audition). It's a shame, because I really do like MBJ in what I've seen of his work.

 

[Flint Marko]

Lol, why have you got quotes by Cyclopswasright in your signature?

Haha I mean look at em, they're hilarious. In one post he's telling people who are saying bad things about the movie that we haven't seen any footage so it's to early to form an opinion; then he says that Doom will be a more "well developed, interesting villain" than any MCU antagonist. Completely hypocritical and completely hilarious.

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

Well I finally watched DOFP (I picked up a cheap used copy so Fox didn't make a dime off of me). It was decent but man I have to say- talk about overrated. I can't believe the amount of praise that film gets. I expected to be blown away the way people talk about it. It was an admirable attempt at cleaning up the shambles that is the Fox-men continuity but as films X2 and First Class are much better with X2 being the best X-Men film so far IMO.

The reason I mention it is because I constantly hear defenders of the Foxtastic Four cite that film as a reason for their faith in this reboot along with Kinberg being the writer etc. I'm sorry but the writing did not make that a good film - it was the direction and the performances by Fassbender and McAvoy. The writing was nothing special and even pretty contrived at points (not to mention Vaughn claims to have written 90% of it).

And as mentioned many times Fox has never demonstrated competency with any comic book movie that is not an X-Men film. All DOFP shows is that Singer did not forget how to make the same kind of film that put Fox on the map in this genre. It doesn't mean they know how to make a Fantastic Four film. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. It's fine if some people enjoy what Fox is doing with the X-Men but no way am I jumping on the Fox train because of this. There's no doubt in my mind Marvel would make a better Fantastic Four film.

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

Haha I mean look at em, they're hilarious. In one post he's telling people who are saying bad things about the movie that we haven't seen any footage so it's to early to form an opinion; then he says that Doom will be a more "well developed, interesting villain" than any MCU antagonist. Completely hypocritical and completely hilarious.

QFT.

I noticed your new signature as well and got quite the chuckle out of it.

 

[Flint Marko]

QFT.

I noticed your new signature as well and got quite the chuckle out of it.

he's something else.

Well I finally watched DOFP (I picked up a cheap used copy so Fox didn't make a dime off of me). It was decent but man I have to say- talk about overrated. I can't believe the amount of praise that film gets. I expected to be blown away the way people talk about it. It was an admirable attempt at cleaning up the shambles that is the Fox-men continuity but as films X2 and First Class are much better with X2 being the best X-Men film so far IMO.

The reason I mention it is because I constantly hear defenders of the Foxtastic Four cite that film as a reason for their faith in this reboot along with Kinberg being the writer etc. I'm sorry but the writing did not make that a good film - it was the direction and the performances by Fassbender and McAvoy. The writing was nothing special and even pretty contrived at points (not to mention Vaughn claims to have written 90% of it).

And as mentioned many times Fox has never demonstrated competency with any comic book movie that is not an X-Men film. All DOFP shows is that Singer did not forget how to make the same kind of film that put Fox on the map in this genre. It doesn't mean they know how to make a Fantastic Four film. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. It's fine if some people enjoy what Fox is doing with the X-Men but no way am I jumping on the Fox train because of this. There's no doubt in my mind Marvel would make a better Fantastic Four film.

Well done on not letting fox get any of your money.
This needs to be quoted when anyone claims DOFP's success proves anything about foxs competency towards handling the FF. It's a desparate, weak counter-argument.
I really am anticipating this films release. I cannot wait to finally see the FFINO take on an evil blogger with their containment suits in a lo-fi, gritty, found-footage debacle that will tank with critics and audiences alike. Maybe then people will understand fox is nothing without Singer or Vaughn.

 

[justanotherguy]

Well I finally watched DOFP (I picked up a cheap used copy so Fox didn't make a dime off of me). It was decent but man I have to say- talk about overrated. I can't believe the amount of praise that film gets. I expected to be blown away the way people talk about it. It was an admirable attempt at cleaning up the shambles that is the Fox-men continuity but as films X2 and First Class are much better with X2 being the best X-Men film so far IMO.

The reason I mention it is because I constantly hear defenders of the Foxtastic Four cite that film as a reason for their faith in this reboot along with Kinberg being the writer etc. I'm sorry but the writing did not make that a good film - it was the direction and the performances by Fassbender and McAvoy. The writing was nothing special and even pretty contrived at points (not to mention Vaughn claims to have written 90% of it).

And as mentioned many times Fox has never demonstrated competency with any comic book movie that is not an X-Men film. All DOFP shows is that Singer did not forget how to make the same kind of film that put Fox on the map in this genre. It doesn't mean they know how to make a Fantastic Four film. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. It's fine if some people enjoy what Fox is doing with the X-Men but no way am I jumping on the Fox train because of this. There's no doubt in my mind Marvel would make a better Fantastic Four film.

I'm with you there man. Fox continues to want to do period pieces because they had to go back in time to refresh the X-Men in First Class, but they went too far back to gel it completely. With the stars of the movie becoming stars from other work, now they have to focus on the characters...and will go decade by decade.

The biggest problem? The stakes have been dropped to nothing. We've seen Logan wake up and see all his buddies in present day. Any other adventure before hand already has a pre determined outcome. Spare me the exposition that says the timeline will change again, that would be a second bite at the apple trying to fix it.

They make good popcorn flicks, but these are terrible comic and X-Men films, just like our new F4 is going to be.

Fox wants to deviate from what Marvel's done, so it's FUBAR.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

If this production was going very differently - If there hadn't been rumors that Trank was being replaced just prior to production and if Trank was active on Twitter and if we had set photos and reports and if the actors were enthusiastically discussing their experiences on set . . .

Then I think we'd have to consider rumors that Trank has been fired or at the very least highly marginalized to be implausible.

But in light of everything we've seen since the start of production, I think it's more likely that Trank has been fired or highly marginalized than not. That would explain the extremely atypical nature of this production thus far.

As for reports in reputable entertainment news outlets, well if we just go by what's reported in Variety, we'd have to assume this film didn't even exist, because there's certainly not much reporting - good or bad.

I don't have any doubt at this moment that there are serious issues between the studio and director. I just don't know the exact details or how that will ultimately affect what we see on screen.

 

[Dark Raven]

If Trank has been fired, who is going to be listed as director, and who is doing what now?

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

If Trank has been fired, who is going to be listed as director, and who is doing what now?

That's an intriguing question. Trank, if he chooses, could likely demand that his name be removed from the credits if he wasn't allowed to finish it.

Trank and Fox could agree to keep his name as director and sweep as much of this under the rug as possible until after the film has been released, but if the relationship is toxic, they may not be able to play nice until August.

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

I'm with you there man. Fox continues to want to do period pieces because they had to go back in time to refresh the X-Men in First Class, but they went too far back to gel it completely. With the stars of the movie becoming stars from other work, now they have to focus on the characters...and will go decade by decade.

The biggest problem? The stakes have been dropped to nothing. We've seen Logan wake up and see all his buddies in present day. Any other adventure before hand already has a pre determined outcome. Spare me the exposition that says the timeline will change again, that would be a second bite at the apple trying to fix it.

They make good popcorn flicks, but these are terrible comic and X-Men films, just like our new F4 is going to be.

Fox wants to deviate from what Marvel's done, so it's FUBAR.

I agree. There are a lot of problems with the Fox-men franchise but this is a big one in my mind. Whatever conflict they encounter in the future what's to stop them from simply sending Wolverine back in time again to fix it? I have no idea how they go on from here. Maybe they can do a Groundhog Day/Edge of Tomorrow/Source Code type adaptation where Wolverine has to live the same day over and over until he gets it right. Because that seems to be what Fox is doing.

I could totally be wrong on this but I'm not sure the Fox-Men franchise has a lot of legs left. I watched the film with someone who is not a comic book fan and their comments were "well there's Magneto just being Magneto again - nothing new there" and they recognized all those other mutants as what they are: "nothing more than eye candy".

While I applaud the film's effort to make Charles and Raven central to the story instead of Wolverine for once, it is totally laughable to me that Colossus has now been in three X-Men movies and we know absolutely nothing about him. I also feel Nicholas Hoult is bad casting for Beast (Kelsey Grammer was perfect) and they made him into a Bruce Banner ripoff. Quicksilver might as well have been a completely made up character since he bore no resemblance to the character from the comics other than his silver hair and the fact that he runs fast. Sunspot's power set was indistinguishable from the Human Torch. Jackman is great at the role no doubt but Wolverine is a little too sentimental for my tastes. Fox just basically does whatever the hell they feel like with these characters.

I understand that the X-Men is going to be at Fox for a long long time and that there are fans out there for what they are doing with them but for those same fans to act like Marvel couldn't do a better job with these characters is beyond ludicrous. Unfortunately we'll probably never know exactly what Marvel would have done so instead in the meantime we'll just have to enjoy characters like Rocket Racoon.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/p/53956399/marvel--kills-the-cast-of-fantastic-four-eta-plot-details-trank-rumors-update/

Just to summarize for those who don't want to dig through for the important information:

Nov 26

After the crap Trank pulled in Baton Rouge, i doubt he ever directs a studio picture again. He will certainly never work for Fox. At this point that F4 reboot might never get released.

A buddy of mine was on the crew. Trank showed up to set late or so high he couldn't speak almost everyday. Some days he didn't show up at all. He treated crew terribly. He trashed the house the production company rented for him. From what I'm told he did a couple hundred grand worth of damage.

Nov 27

A buddy of mine was on the crew. Trank showed up to set late or so high he couldn't speak almost everyday. Some days he didn't show up at all. He treated crew terribly. He trashed the house the production company rented for him. From what I'm told he did a couple hundred grand worth of damage."

can confirm what is bolded. not sure about the rest but could find out.

Nov. 30

Trank did so much damage to the house that Jim Gianopulos came to Baton Rouge and personally apologized to the owners. Trust me, Trank's career is done. There will be no major study sequels or spin offs for him. He'll be lucky to get the sequel to a Stabbing at Leia's 21st Birthday.

Dec. 20

He trashed the house the production company rented for him. From what I'm told he did a couple hundred grand worth of damage.

heard this as well from a person in the know.

ETA: Also heard he was fired after wrapping and other are working on it post production.

So we have three different people who live in the area all confirming parts of the story from various sources over the space of a month . . . and nobody form the area disputing any of the details in any way.

I think it's clear there's something going on.

 

[Dark Raven]

That's an intriguing question. Trank, if he chooses, could likely demand that his name be removed from the credits if he wasn't allowed to finish it.

Trank and Fox could agree to keep his name as director and sweep as much of this under the rug as possible until after the film has been released, but if the relationship is toxic, they may not be able to play nice until August.

If Trank's name is removed from the credits, what are the press to make of that? Much of the so-called "hype" about this film was that it was being made by this "edgy" director who made Chronicle and that we'd be getting this grounded and gritty take on the FF. If even that isn't part of it anymore as far as moviegoers are aware, then where is the apparent attraction?

Doesn't it also mean that someone else has to step in a la Richard Lester and refilm a large chunk of it to be able to get a director's credit?

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

If Trank's name is removed from the credits, what are the press to make of that? Much of the so-called "hype" about this film was that it was being made by this "edgy" director who made Chronicle and that we'd be getting this grounded and gritty take on the FF. If even that isn't part of it anymore as far as moviegoers are aware, then where is the apparent attraction?

Doesn't it also mean that someone else has to step in a la Richard Lester and refilm a large chunk of it to be able to get a director's credit?

I think if these rumors are even partially true, bad-buzz will turn to terrible buzz and even the most ardent supporters will have trouble rationalizing that a good film can come out of this disaster.

Fox may still try to release the film to keep the rights and try to get some of their investment back, but I suspect they will spend next to nothing on marketing and this will be in and out of theaters quickly.

. . . but still might make enough money to cover the low budget.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

I think this should be made the official GIF of this forum.

 

[Dark Raven]

I think if these rumors are even partially true, bad-buzz will turn to terrible buzz and even the most ardent supporters will have trouble rationalizing that a good film can come out of this disaster.

Fox may still try to release the film to keep the rights and try to get some of their investment back, but I suspect they will spend next to nothing on marketing and this will be in and out of theaters quickly.

. . . but still might make enough money to cover the low budget.

The Man from UNCLE is coming out the week after FFINO. They probably don't have anything to worry about, because FFINO will have finished its theatrical run by then.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

So we have three different people who live in the area all confirming parts of the story from various sources over the space of a month . . . and nobody form the area disputing any of the details in any way.

I think it's clear there's something going on.

I'm almost 100% certain this is true at this point. It dovetails too well with everything else we know, especially the rumors that Fox had tried to have him replaced at the last minute.

I think if these rumors are even partially true, bad-buzz will turn to terrible buzz and even the most ardent supporters will have trouble rationalizing that a good film can come out of this disaster.

Fox may still try to release the film to keep the rights and try to get some of their investment back, but I suspect they will spend next to nothing on marketing and this will be in and out of theaters quickly.

. . . but still might make enough money to cover the low budget.

The reversion clock will reset in any event and we'll be stuck with another 7 year wait

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

The reversion clock will reset in any event and we'll be stuck with another 7 year wait

Sadly, IF these rumors are true and IF Fox still releases it, I think any hope of a quick reversion is gone. Because that will just illustrate Fox is so determined to hold on to the rights that they'll release a disaster of a film to accomplish that goal.