Why The 2015 Fantastic Four Movie Flopped, According To The Screenwriter

The one fond memory I have from watching the 2015 "Fantastic Four" reboot in theaters was a moment in the end credits. At one point the screen read, "The making and authorized distribution of this film supported over 15,000 jobs." This inspired a guy in the back of the theater to loudly say, "Well, at least something good came out of this movie!" 

The comment was met with laughs from people still in the theater, because we were all pretty much in agreement: "Fantastic Four" was not good. It was a big bland nothing of a movie, one that served as yet another example of 20th Century Fox not being able to take advantage of any of the beloved comic book characters they had the rights to. With both critics and regular viewers, "Fantastic Four" flopped so badly that nobody was surprised at all when the studio never made a sequel. The "Fantastic Four" movie franchise was quietly shelved once again, with fans having to wait until the upcoming MCU reboot to find out if the third time's the charm. 

Jeremy Slater, a screenwriter for the film who went on to write for the "Moon Knight" miniseries and "Godzilla X Kong: A New Empire," seems to be under no illusions about the movie's failure. In a recent interview, Slater talked about what he thinks went wrong with the production. The main issue? He wanted to do "The Avengers" a bit too much. As he explained:

"['The Avengers'] had just come out, either that same summer or the summer before. I f***ing loved it. I thought Joss Whedon did the impossible with that movie and balanced all these tones. ... I was like, 'Look — audiences love this movie. The box-office numbers don't lie.' I thought we could really do something similar in terms of real scale and some giant, fun set pieces. But, let's also not forget the secret sauce of that movie, which is the relationships. ... That was always the North Star. 'Man, if we could do what Marvel [Studios] is doing right now, this is clearly what audiences want to see in a comic book movie.'"

Slater explained that Josh Trank, the director, did not have "The Avengers" as his north star, and that this "disconnect" between him and Slater was what doomed the project. 

"Josh and I probably just saw different movies. I was more of an 'Avengers' guy and, I don't want to put words in his mouth, but he was more of a 'Batman Begins,' like ultra-grounded, dark and gritty guy," Slater said. The result was a mix of both worlds: The movie had the quippiness and general weightlessness of a bad MCU film, combined with the hyper-realistic, zero-sense-of-wonder approach of a bad DC film. As Slater explained further: 

"The comic book nature of something like 'The Avengers,' that I had been absorbing and loving my entire life, he didn't have those same touch points, so that movie wasn't landing for him the way it landed for me. The other thing is 'Avengers' was a very expensive movie. Our budget was constantly shrinking as the project kept going. It's easy to say, 'Yeah, let's go do 'Avengers,” but it's hard to actually do it."

Although Slater might not be happy with how his "Fantastic Four" script turned out, he does seem optimistic for the new "Fantastic Four" movie, releasing in theaters July 25. "I like the fact that they are taking a big creative swing," he said of the new entry. It's a sharp contrast to the 2015 film, which felt like it was constantly constrained by a studio trying to play it safe. 

The most exciting part for Slater, however, is that it looks like this new movie is actually taking advantage of Galactus, one of the Fantastic Four's most interesting villains from the comics:

"I think they are getting Galactus right. I wanted to make him our big bad and there was some internal push back. ... I was excited to bring back a classic Galactus and have that Jack Kirby design. It looked like [the new film's] accomplished that, so I can't wait to see him in real life."