The news isn’t getting better for Fox.
The Fantastic Four 2015 reboot movie pulled in $2.7 million on Thursday, with $11.3 million on Friday, and an anemic Saturday and Sunday has the film on track to pull in $27 million for its opening weekend; quite a flop for a movie that cost $120 million.
Bad reviews, terrible word-of-mouth, and the social media megaphone have convinced casual action and super-hero genre movie goers from seeing the film; plus a large cohort of comic book fans had already washed their hands of the film essentially believing it was #FFINO (Fantastic Four In Name Only). The movie was a huge departure from the comic book Fantastic Four; while early buzz was around the casting of Michael B. Jordan as the Johnny Storm a.k.a. The Human Torch, when his comic book counterpart is Caucasian, that was a welcome addition for me.
It was also the other changes and tweaks that made this movie into a generic super-hero or sci-fi film with seemingly none of the charm of the “first family” of super-heroes in the Fantastic Four. Plus, there’s not even the standard fans-expected post credit scenes.
A $27 million opening weekend, is far lower than the earlier projected $45 million which itself was lower than its 2000s era Fantastic Four film predecessor even without an adjustment for inflation. Plus, its no longer clear if the Fantastic Four film will even take the top spot this weekend as Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is on track to make $29 its second week out.
This Fantastic Four flop has huge fallout for Fox and for their Marvel super-hero-verse.
Stay tuned as the final weekend box office comes to light. The $27 million is the expected North American earnings with International viewership not expected to huge either.
