Marvel's first family, the Fantastic Four, has achieved box office success with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, overcoming a history of cinematic failures. Previous adaptations, including Roger Corman's production and Tim Story's films, were critical disappointments, misrepresenting the beloved characters. The most notable failure was 2015's Fant4stic, directed by Josh Trank, which suffered from creative clashes and studio interference. Trank and writer Jeremy Slater disagreed on the film's tone, leading to a chaotic production filled with reshoots and an unclear vision for the film's ending.
The buried Roger Corman production was the stuff of pop culture lore for decades before anyone saw it. Tim Story's two titles from the 2000s were critical disappointments and poor representations of some of the comics' most iconic arcs.
From the offset, Trank and Slater clashed over the film's tone. Trank didn't seem to care about the characters or the superhero genre, while Slater wanted something more faithful to the comics.
Production only got messier from there, as Fox disliked Trank's original cut and demanded changes against his will. Reshoots were ordered. Nobody seemed to know what the ending was supposed to be.
Fant4stic was a chance to make something that would feel like a 'cross between Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton,' with a dose of David Cronenberg.
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