10 Years Ago, This Fantastic Four Movie Got 9% on Rotten Tomatoes & Ruined Its Director's Career

After Marvel Studios changed the way comic book movies were made, there was a sense that it was impossible to make a superhero movie that would fail at the box office.

However, Fox delivered a master class in 2015, making a flick about the fan-favorite Fantastic Four in such a way that even the most devoted fans of Reed Richards and his team didn't go to the theater.

The grandiose project, which cost the studio $120 million, ultimately resulted in huge financial losses, discord within the team, and a halt to work on new stories about these superheroes for ten years.

Josh Trank Made His Debut with an Unusual Superhero Movie

Josh Trank, the director of 2015's Fantastic Four, made his debut with superhero film Chronicle. It's not like other superhero movies: with great power comes not great responsibility, but sheer terror.

One of the friends who receives superpowers quickly spirals out of control, feeling a power he has never felt before. The thriller cost $15 million to make – ten times less than a standard superhero movie. Chronicle grossed a whopping $126 million at the box office for such a budget.

Out of Many Studio Offers, Trank Chose the Fantastic Four Reboot

The young director was bombarded with offers: Sony worked with him on the concept for Venom, and Lucasfilm offered him the chance to make a Star Wars movie about Boba Fett.

The battle for Trank ended in 2012, when the director accepted Fox's offer to make a reboot of Fantastic Four.

From the beginning, the director said he wanted Jeremy Slater, who wrote the screenplays for The Umbrella Academy and Moon Knight, to write the script.

Director Wanted Fantastic Four to Be Different from Other Superhero Films

Trank knew he didn't want to make a typical comic book movie, and Slater tried to find an interesting reference for the adaptation outside of the genre. What if Fantastic Four was like Inception? Or Saving Private Ryan?

The adaptation could have included Galactus, H.E.R.B.I.E., time travel, and even other dimensions – there was plenty of material, but Trank didn't like any of it.

Trank Interfered With Writer's Communication With Fox

Slater wrote 18 drafts of the script, only two of which made it to the studio. Trank acted as an intermediary between the studio and the writer to maintain control over the production. The director would give Fox only the drafts he felt were necessary, giving Slater very little feedback.

Slater eventually resigned after six months, and Fox hired several writers of their own to clean up the existing drafts. Although Trank got along well with them, the script still had problems – it had no third act.

Fantastic Four Underwent Extensive Reshoots and Re-Editing

The first cut of Fantastic Four surprised the studio. At the time, the director was told that the movie did not look at all like they expected.

Reshoots are standard for modern blockbusters, but Fantastic Four desperately needed them – the movie had no ending. Trank blamed Fox, saying the studio cut $30 million from the budget, which affected the action-packed finale.

The studio hired Stephen Rivkin, who was an editor of Avatar. Rivkin became the de facto director and changed the camera angles in every scene of the movie.

By January 2015, the director realized that the studio had put all its efforts into producing Rivkin's version – all reshoots and script revisions were done according to his vision.

Fantastic Four Turned Out to Be a Disastrous Flop

Trank continued to promote the film leading up to its premiere in August 2015. At Comic-Con in San Diego, the director assured fans that everything was fine and that Fantastic Four would be an amazing comic book movie.

But everything fell apart after the first reviews – the film received 9% from critics and 18% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

Trank's Mental Health Was Affected by the Fantastic Four Failure

After Fantastic Four, Josh Trank was depressed for a long time – according to the director, he suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder and insomnia.

In the interview with Polygon, Trank said:

“I had been exposed to a permanent version of reality where I had no reason to live because there was nothing that I desired. I didn’t want to be a big filmmaker anymore.”

Trank underwent therapy and struggled with suicidal thoughts. A breakthrough came three months later, when the director began to criticize himself for his former arrogance and foolish ambitions, writing his thoughts in a diary.

Josh Trank's Next and Last Movie Also Failed

And then he began working on a script for a movie about Al Capone, a gangster about whom Trank had read everything he could as a child.

The movie, called Capone, was released in 2020 and also did not achieve success, receiving 40% from critics and 25% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.