When Fox announced their aim to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise with a new feature film in 2015, the news was met with a familiar mixture of excitement and resignation amongst fans of the long-running comic book franchise. After all, this was the Fantastic Four one of Marvel Comics greatest super hero teams, practically household names in the geek circles we run in. But wed been burned before. Leaving aside B-movie producer Roger Cormans abortion of a movie from 1994 (allegedly only made as a placeholder because the rights would revert to Marvel unless a movie was produced), 2005s Fantastic Four and 2007s sequel Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer were widely panned by fans and critics alike, director Tim Storys efforts perceived as high camp with low comedy. Incoming director Josh Trank, however, has some excellent form here, having made his directorial debut in 2012 with low budget super hero smash hit Chronicle. Hes made some interesting casting choices (some of which have resulted in comic fan apoplexy) and, with studio 20th Century Fox so confident in his work so far that theyve greenlit a sequel and set a release date of July 14th 2017, this looks as though it could be the Fantastic Four movie that fans have been waiting for. But there are some pitfalls to bringing Marvels first family to the big screen. Heres our list of prior errors of judgement that Trank would do well to avoid this time around
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
