On Saturday, we launched a new feature on /Film called Retro Movie Trailer Flashback. We intended this feature to be a once a week thing, unless we came across something really special or in the case that it was a slow news day. And it turns out both this video and tonight qualify. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ruled the box office this weekend, and to honor the series we present to you the movie trailer for the 1994 version of The Fantastic Four movie. If you thought Tim Story did a bad job, check this out.

Most of you probably don’t know, but the first Fantastic Four movie was made in 1994 by B-movie producer Roger Corman. As it turns out, Neue Constantin Films of Germany had owned the film rights to the Fantastic Four, but on December 31st they would expire and revert back to Marvel. Neue Constantin, who had also been behind the Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie and a crappy direct-to-video Captain America film, wanted to renew the option, but of course, Marvel said no. The only way Neue Constantin could retain the option on the characters was to produce a film by years end. The resulting movie was made for $1.5 million but never released theatrically or on home video. But a copy of the movie somehow leaked out and has since become a cult phenomenon in the geek world. The Fantastic Four rivals the The Star Wars Holiday Special as the most popular bootlegged movie among comic and sci-fi fans. The trailer we present to you was included on the home video version of Carnosaur.

You can read more about the 1994 Fantastic Four movie at teako170.com.