8 Ridiculous Behind-The-Scenes Struggles Over Movie Rights

6. Making A Fantastic Four Movie On A $1 Million Budget

Though it almost seems unthinkable now in the era of the billion dollar box office of The Avengers and The Dark Knight, in the 1980s and 1990s comic book superhero films in general were not very good and not very successful at the box office. Obviously there were exceptions, but they were few and far between. So it's not very surprising that Marvel sold the movie rights to The Fantastic Four to German film producer Bernd Eichinger for an estimated $250,000 in 1986, which seems ridiculously cheap in retrospect. Eichinger's rights were set to expire on December 31, 1992 if he did not begin filming, but he struggled to find financing for the movie during those years. As a last ditch effort in September 1992, he asked B-movie producer Roger Corman to help him make the film on a $1 million budget. The film was rushed through pre-production and the shoot began on December 28. Legend has it that the movie was never intended for release (like the 1966 Hobbit short), but the cast promoted the film at the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con and the world premiere was set for January 1994 at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota (and if it were true that it wouldn't be released Corman would've probably spent even less money!) However, the film was never officially released. Years later, Eichinger revealed that Marvel movie producer Avi Arad actually bought the film lock, stock, and barrel and had the prints destroyed. Arad was concerned that the low-budget nature of the production would do the property more harm than good. Though the 1994 version has been available as a bootleg for years, it still has never been officially released. Nonetheless, the project did what Eichinger set out to do: maintain his hold on the movie rights. Eichinger and Arad eventually produced 2005's Fantastic Four (with a budget a hundred times more than the 1994 version) and 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer for 20th Century Fox, which grossed a combined $619.6 million worldwide. Eichinger passed away in 2011, so he won't be involved in the planned 2015 reboot, but that $250,000 investment obviously paid off.