Everyone has a personal "Worst Movies of All-Time" list, and there's no doubt in my mind that Josh Trank's FANTASTIC FOUR sits miserably among my top five. Allow me a moment to explain, the Fantastic Four have been my favorite super hero team for the better part of six years, and in no way, shape, or form did the rebooted FF film do a single thing to honor Marvel's first family. I know the concept of reboots, to an extent, is to creatively re-invent the wheel, but that film was a less-than-desirable representation of its industry-changing source material. I could go on, and I really want to, but that's not why we're here.
Recently, writer-producer Simon Kinberg sat down for a chat with Collider's own Steve Weintraub, and the two got to talking about the possibility of there being an alternative cut to Trank's FANTATIC FOUR film:
I don’t know the answer to that in terms of whether or not fans will ever see it. I think B-roll is probably the place where they will see it. And for us, it’s in the past in the sense of lessons learned and we would love to make another Fantastic Four movie. We really believe in that cast, and I think the lessons that we learned would help us make a more consistent movie than we did the first time.
Interesting. Obviously, this now begs the question as to whether or not Fox has to keep pooping out FANTASTIC FOUR movies as a way of keeping a stranglehold on the rights to the characters. Kinberg elaborated on that too, as you can see here:
I have no idea. I think the truth is we would not make another Fantastic Four movie until it was ready to be made. One of the lessons we learned on that movie is that we want to make sure we get it 100% right, because we will not get another chance with the fans.
For the record, I will make no apologies for my poor attitude toward the rebooted FANTASTIC FOUR. The films that came out several years prior were nothing special either, but at the very least, there were fleeting moments of brilliance as the team worked beside one another to save the day. It's a real shame too, because Trank had a more than capable cast at his disposal to make a truly great FF film happen. Alas, it will probably be another couple of years until Fox gives it another go, or, they finally relinquish the rights. In my opinion, it's not that hard to make a good FANTASTIC FOUR film. Here's what you do: INDIANA JONES meets LOST IN SPACE – done!
Josh Trank's next film is FONZO, a biographical crime drama that details the failed mental health of Al Capone in the years after his notorious antics landed him in jail. The film is now in preproduction and as of yet does not have an expected release date.
And be sure to catch our exclusive interview with SImon Kinberg as he talks on the end of Wolverine, more X-23 and the Dark Phoenix saga.