Update: Josh Trank disowns Fantastic Four via Twitter

New details regarding the failure of THE FANTASTIC FOUR have come to light. We have added them to the end of this article.

By now, we all know the critical consensus is that FANTASTIC FOUR sucks. Virtually nothing positive has been said about Josh Trank's first big studio film with the blame being put squarely on his shoulders and the studio. Now, Trank himself has voiced an opinion via Twitter that could potentially burn all bridges within the Hollywood system.

Josh Trank posted a tweet yesterday that he has since deleted. But, this being the world of the Internet, screen captures of the tweet will live on for an eternity. Here is what Trank wrote.

Instead of taking any responsibility for the critical failures of FANTASTIC FOUR, Josh Trank instead throws the entire film under the bus and claims the studio changed the film since last year. Our own Chris Bumbray's review found virtually nothing worth watching in FANTASTIC FOUR from the subpar pacing, plot, execution, and special effects. Could Trank's version have been completely different and worth the price of admission? Possibly, but I find that very hard to believe.

Since FANTASTIC FOUR began production, Trank has been the subject of rumors regarding his diva-like behavior on the set of the film as well as his departure from the STAR WARS anthology film he was set to direct. While this latest tweet shows a level of immaturity that could confirm those rumors, we don't have nearly enough facts to draw such a conclusion.

The bottom line here is that FANTASTIC FOUR was never marketed as coming "from the director of CHRONICLE" but rather "from the studio that brought you X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST" and that does not instill any confidence in the creative path of the film's development. Almost everyone had a bad feeling about this movie from the get go and the disagreement between the filmmaker and the studio behind it doesn't alleviate any of the ill reception the film is getting. The movie just debuted in theaters and it is already dead and buried. So much for that already announced sequel.

FANTASTIC FOUR is now playing.

UPDATE: CHRONICLE screenwriter Max Landis has added his two cents to the entire FANTASTIC FOUR debacle by clearing up the misconceptions that are pegging Josh Trank as an independent filmmaker who sold out to the studio system. Interesting reminders:

UPDATE #1: Well, now that THE FANTASTIC FOUR has completely shit the bed, new information is coming to light about what the hell happened to Josh Trank's film. On Collider Movie Talk, John Campea revealed sources within 20th Century Fox who confirmed major changes were made to Trank's film just before production began.

"I've got a source, fairly close to the production of this film, who had told me that the movie that Josh Trank and Fox had agreed on making — included 3 really big action set pieces. That was all agreed upon, it was part of the flow of the movie. And a movie is like a puzzle, you have all the pieces in place. You start messing with pieces and suddenly the whole puzzle can look out of whack. And they had agreed upon this vision for a film. And days before production began, Fox came in and made him pull 3 main action sequences out of the film. I was also told, the ending of the film was not even Josh Trank's. At some point they hijacked the editing bay from him. To the point that the editing of the film was done without him."

Well, if that does in fact end up being true, that could definitely explain why Trank felt okay in throwing his movie under the bus the day it hit theaters. It doesn't justify his behavior, but it does make some more sense.

UPDATE #2: Estimates say Josh Trank may have cost 20th Century Fox approximately $10 million with his tweet. But, as cries begin surrounding the demand for Marvel Studios to get the rights back to THE FANTASTIC FOUR, Comic Book Dot Com has done the math and found that there is no need for Fox to begin production on a new film featuring Marvel's first family until 2022 with a release date in 2023. The studio may say they are behind continuing the franchise, but it could be at least seven years before that happens. Maybe that sequel slot can be used for DEADPOOL 2 instead.