A Geeky Viewpoint

I have not been very high on the reboot or re-envisioning of Fantastic Four set to be released on August 7, 2015. I have expressed my concern about the Fantastic Four (2015) movie in multiple postings on this blog. Yesterday I was asked a question, that I would like to address to a wider audience.  I was asked:

Have your [my] feelings towards a movie ever shifted dramatically from one position to another as the film nears release?

I emphatically answered yes; The Wolverine is clearly an example of a film in which my position went from I am expecting utter garbage to having high hopes of a very good super-hero film prior to the release of the film.
Additionally my hopes for X-Men: Days of Future Past increased the closer we got to its release date.

The follow up question is what is sparking this post:

If your position on at least a couple of movies has changed pretty drastically, why hasn't your position changed on the Fantastic Four [2015]?   

The Original Films by Tim Story

I do not hold the first two Fantastic Four films at the same level of contempt that many comic book / super-hero movie fans do.  That's not saying I think Fantastic Four (2005) and the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) are award winning, spectacular films, rather they aren't bad
films.

20th Century Fox

I understand what 20th Century Fox was trying to do back in the 2000's with the three Marvel IP's they controlled.   Daredevil and Elektra were supposed to be the darker more hardcore and gritty Superhero films - a hard PG-13 rating that is almost rated R, The X-Men were the middle of the road superhero film with a soft PG-13 rating and the Fantastic Four were supposed to come in a PG films, more of a family film. 
That sounds great on paper at least, but it failed.   Who knew audiences in 2005 were going to suddenly take to dark grittier films like Batman Begins and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  It also didn't help that many of the jokes were a bit to subtle. 

I would also add the film is being produced under the 20th Century Fox banner.  I realize Tom Rothmann is no longer in charge at 20th Century Fox, he is now the top guy at Sony Picture Entertainment, but that doesn't really change my perceptions of what 20th Century Fox is wants to do.  
Both The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past are my examples of films in which my position changed are 20th Century Fox releases so I am not suggesting that everything 20th Century Fox does is rubber donkey dung, rather with what they have done with other projects I am not buy the hype as easily.

Mixed messages from 20th Century Fox executives as well as from people involved in the project also have me concerned.   The biggest example is whether or not the Fantastic Four connected to the X-Men universe or not?   No one involved can seem to present a coherent answer. 

Reboots

Fantastic Four (2015) is a reboot and re-envisioning of the story, a mere 10 years and 30 days after the release of the first Fantastic Four film.   If you say are in your early 20's this may seem like a long time, however this usually has a crippling effect on people buy tickets over the age of 25.  
When looking at the demographics of people who buy tickets for superhero movies the largest group is 18-29 white males, followed by 30-44 white males before title break down shifting around the other groups.  Conventional wisdom suggests that 30% of the potential audience will be lost because it is a reboot with 15 years of the original.   I am clearly in the category of 20-44 White Male who has little time for reboots so close to the original.

20th Century Fox has clearly not learned the lessons of reboots from Sony in particular, but Marvel, Warner Brothers, Universal and every other film maker from the past decade.
I cannot find the exact quote but I remember when in 2012 a senior executive at 20th Century Fox stated something along the lines of "By the time the Fantastic Four (2015) is released no one will remember the original."   There is a similar quote from a Sony executive about The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) in comparison to the Spider-Man (2002).
What was one of the largest complaints of the viewing audience about The Amazing Spider-Man, so much time was spent on the origin story when practically everyone had just seen the Spider-Man trilogy on TV/Cable/DVD/Blu Ray.    The Fantastic Four (2005) is on cable three times this week, as well as the fact my local Target has the DVD/Blu Rays front and center on display.  

The next biggest complaint about several reboots, including some soft reboots like Superman Returns is the fact that the movie makers in an effort to create a "new" story have to deviate from the original works.   The Amazing Spider-Man was genetically enhanced by a Spider with Peter's DNA, what huh...   Clearly the Fantastic Four (2015) story is changing the age of the characters, where they get their powers, and the entire backstory of their enemy is just a minor deviation.

Deviation is far worse as far as I am concerned because now Fantastic Four (2015) is a coming of age story opposed to a group of thirty-something characters who in the comics who had to deal with real life issues caused by their powers, like a failing marriage for Ben Grimm.    

The First Trailer

It seems like most younger bloggers got very excited with the first trailer; however for us older bloggers the opposite effect happened, a more ok whatever attitude presented itself.    A quote that really hit me that is referenced several times on the interweb, that for some reason I cannot find the original quote.

"[N]othing" in the trailer to characterize it as being based on the Fantastic Four, feeling it could have easily have been a substitute for similar science-fiction films such as 2014's Intersteller.

The Social Media Effect

One of the things that really has me worried is how little Social Media has been used to promote the upcoming film.  Not just from the film makers and distributors, but from the fans of the Fantastic Four themselves.   Deadpool, a 20th Century Fox Film which is just entering filming, has at least twice the number of hits in the social media world than the Fantastic Four (2015) which has been in development for almost 6 years. 

Deadpool is being made because of the fans desire to see the film expressed almost entirely in the Social Media world. 

Timing

The Fantastic Four (2015) is being released three weeks after Ant-Man, two weeks after Pan, one week after Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and one week before The Man from UNCLE.   While I understand that August has been usually uncompetitive for movie releases there are two many similar films (similar audience demographics) saturating the market over a one month period.  The amount of dollars that can be spent in attending films is finite.  If Ant-Man is fairly successful ($135 Million going into week four), Pan is over $100 Million (going into week three) and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation breaks $100 million how much money is left?   Add into that the question on whether the older audience would rather wait for The Man from UNCLE released the following week; you know 30% of the audience that hates reboots within 15 years?

Historically we have an answer, $45 to $60 Million in opening weekends.  In most cases the movie on the tail end of the month is not that successful.   What bothers me about this is I know it, I am just a blogger, now explain to me how executives at 20th Century Fox cannot know that as well.   Why did they leave it there a year ago, six months ago?  

The Wolverine 

In the beginning I stated my opinion of what I was expecting from The Wolverine changed and I became far more positive the closer we got to the release of the film. 
I started out that the film was going to be utter garbage when it was announced, slowly like the tides on a rock I moved to okay it may not be that bad in 2012 as the studio started releasing tidbits of information.   In the end of 2012 we had some official posters and images that seemed to offer the fans some hope.   When the trailer dropped in late March 2013 I was sold.  

Nothing released by 20th Century Fox has gotten me to the point where I can honestly tell you "It may not be that bad."