7 Golden Rules To Revive The Fantastic Four Franchise

By Mark Grainger /

5. Don€™t Stunt Cast The Director

On paper, Josh Trank was a perfect fit for the task of bringing a more realistic and adult version of the Fantastic Four to cinemas. You could argue that the FF don€™t need to be too realistic but with Fox€™s more believable take on the X-Men continuing to do big business it€™s no surprise the studio wanted to keep away from the lighter tone of the Marvel Studios output. Looking back however, Trank was stunt casting and little else. He€™d had one surprise hit with his first feature film, a film that happened to be an alt. take on superheroes, and was snapped up without ever really proving himself capable of handling the strain of a major studio project. The FF really doesn€™t have to break the mould to be a successful franchise, and at this stage it€™d probably struggle to attract a superstar, visionary director in any case. All it really needs though is a proven director to steer a stronger script than we saw in August. Somebody like Joe Johnston, who took Captain America: The First Avenger into cinemas is the sort of solid choice they should be looking to tap to form the foundation of a continuing franchise. Once they€™ve done that, the FF may be an exciting prospect again.