As the new Fantastic Four movie hits theaters today it does so with an avalanche of harsh reviews. The movie has been lambasted by critics and currently owns a 9% rating of Rotten Tomatoes. On Thursday, director Josh Trank (Chronicle) opined in a tweet that the finished version of the film wasn’t his original version.
Trank essentially throws the studio under the bus, stating his original version would have earned “great reviews.” You can read our review here of by our own, John Wedemeyer.
This isn’t a good look for the once up-and-coming Chronicle director, who recently dropped out of directing a Star Wars spin-off; some suggest he was fired outright. Trank quickly deleted the tweet after posting it. Though Trank didn’t have final cut on Fantastic Four, the film itself has been marred with reports that the director behaved erratically while filming.
However, this may put plans for future Fantastic Four films in jeopardy to some degree. The middling reviews it received may not lead to a complete flop, as estimates have it reaching a decent gross this upcoming weekend. At any rate, 20th Century Fox hopes to avoid a The Amazing Spider-Man situation, where a third reboot is needed to escape a poorly received comic book franchise.
One positive for the $120 million reboot can hang its head on is that it will likely take the top place at the box office. Box Office Mojo estimates it to gross $45 million to take the top spot away from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The film stars Miles Teller (Whiplash), Kate Mara (House of Cards), Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle) and Jamie Bell (Snowpiercer). For the time being at least, the jury is out on Trank’s follow-up.
Fantastic Four is in theaters now.