From the “no one could have possibly asked for this” files comes news of a Fantastic Four reboot, currently set to be released in June 2015. There seems to be some kind of illusion that these are not only good, but wildly successful films. A cursory analysis of the data says otherwise.
Fantastic Four (2005) made $154m theatrically on a $100m budget and has a Tomatometer score of 27%. The sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) made a less impressive $131m theatrically on a $130m budget while actually doing better (huh?) on the Tomatometer with a 37%. Factor in DVD sales and such and money was made, but it’s hardly mind-blowing.
Both of these films were largely uninteresting, with Rise of the Silver Surfer being good old-fashioned bad. A doctor (me) diagnosed me as clinically dead during it. One would have to think rehashing a franchise known for dull characters and questionable effects would be risky for Fox, but we’ll see. If the superhero craze is still going strong in two years it will no doubt break even. You have to think at some point the market over-saturation will begin to weed out the riff-raff.
image © Marvel