More Fantastic Faux, er… Four From Fox
Well in case you’ve been staying away from the news, haven’t been reading the Internet lately, or just traveled to get away from whatever awful weather you may be forced to contend with, 20th Century Fox’s latest entry into the Marvel Universe, Fantastic Four, has pretty much flopped at the box office, not even making $27 million for its domestic opening weekend. And yet, the studio, which for the most part has had good success with their X-Men franchise, have decided to go for another crack at it by announcing that they’re not exactly “done” with these characters, despite the fact that they have yet to come up with a universally accepted and acclaimed film after three attempts.
After this weekend’s box office returns had been announced, The Hollywood Reporter tried to contact the studio for a comment regarding the future, if there is to be any, of this “franchise.” Chris Aronson, the Domestic Distribution Chief of Fox, would not commend on the status of any possible sequel (which is currently reported to be released in the summer of 2017), but only to say that the studio is committed to these characters (and presumably actors) and what the future may possibly bring. Said Aronson,
“While we’re disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe.”
As it stands, from a purely financial point of view, the future does not look very bright for Fantastic Four given that the cost to make the movie was in the neighborhood of $122 million, and is currently only projected to make between $45 to $50 million in total returns. Even if the movie were to make more than what is projected the word of mouth among movie goers is bleak at best so the possibility of a future film/sequel finding any sort of success is more than simply a long shot.
We’ll be hearing more in the weeks and months to come regarding the future of Fantastic Four, whether a sequel will be given the go ahead with the current cast, or possibly even the much talked about crossover film with Fox’s more successful franchise, X-Men. So just sit tight, don’t let Doctor Doom fight, and most importantly, we hope to learn fairly soon if there is to be another entry into the universe of Fantastic Four with its June 9, 2017 release date.
