Fantastic Four Director's Perfect Tweet Reminds Us Superhero Movies Can Fail

Fantastic Four Director's Perfect Tweet Reminds Us Superhero Movies Can Fail

Many superhero movies like to emphasize that their characters are flawed but, more often than not, they still save the day and slay at the box office. But not all superheroes win in the end. This weekend, Captain Marvel raced to a $153 million domestic opening, leading at least one pontificator to spout that no superhero movie fails. Well, Josh Trank -- director of the ill-fated 2015 Fantastic Four movie -- had something to say about that:

Burn. On himself. It's true, though. Captain Marvel's domestic gross alone is already almost more than Fantastic Four made during its entire worldwide run. Not that Fantastic Four is the only movie to tank (or Trank?). Still, since he brought it up...

Fantastic Four only made $56,117,548 at the domestic box office and $111,860,048 internationally for a total of $167,977,596 worldwide. That's just four years ago, and it only made $168 million worldwide. That was off a reported production budget of at least $120 million, per Box Office Mojo, and the film was ultimately said to have lost around $100 million.

That's not good.

Captain Marvel has already made $455 million worldwide, and it just opened. And Captain Marvel isn't even the biggest superhero movie of all time. It may or may not follow previous MCU movies and the DC movies that have crossed the $1 billion mark. But clearly it's doing a lot better than Fantastic Four ever did, and it's not a given that any and every superhero movie will succeed. That was the self-deprecating point Josh Trank seemed to be making. Sometimes superhero movies do fail.

Fox's 2015 adaptation of the Marvel Comics characters was panned by both critics and fans. Fantastic Four only has a 9% rating from critics and 18% rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. It got a C- CinemaScore from polled moviegoers. It "won" Razzies for Worst Director; Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel; and Worst Picture (tying with Fifty Shades of Grey).

Fantastic Four was infamously troubled, with Josh Trank reportedly clashing with 20th Century Fox. A lot of blame was put at his doorstep, alleging the director behaved erratically. Trank criticized the final cut right before its release, writing in a later deleted tweet, "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You'll probably never see it. That's reality though."

One of the Fantastic Four producers tried to explain what went wrong, saying it wasn't just one thing. One of the screenwriters also apologized to fans for the movie going wrong.

You could blame lack of interest in Fantastic Four vs. other Marvel characters, but the 2005 Fantastic Four movie -- the one with Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch -- made $330.5 million worldwide. That's not exactly blockbuster level these days, but it was off a reported $100 million production budget. So a modest profit was probably made.

Still, it is pretty rare for major superhero movies to fail these days. The DCEU took a beating from critics for a while -- and there was certainly trouble behind-the-scenes, especially with Justice League -- but even the least successful of the six DCEU movies (Justice League) made $658 million worldwide. Meanwhile, the least successful MCU movie was The Incredible Hulk in 2008, which "only" made $263.5 million worldwide off a reported production budget of $150 million. Halle Berry's Catwoman only made $82.1 million in 2004 (off a reported $100 budget), and Green Lantern also only made $219.8 million worldwide in 2011 (reported $200 million budget).

This is not to restart the never-ending Marvel vs. DC battle. It's just to show it's rare but not unheard of for a superhero movie to flop the way Fantastic Four did. We keep hearing that moviegoers just love superhero movies -- like we'll see anything with a superhero in it -- but it's clearly not that simple. Just let it be a lesson, a reminder, a fear to keep your kids in line. This too could happen to YOU if you don't eat your vegetables and finish your homework.

Now that Fox and Disney are joining forces, and the Fox Marvel characters will fall under Disney's Marvel umbrella, fans are curious to see what might happen with characters like the X-Men and Fantastic Four.

As we wait for updates on that front, keep up with everything that's playing in theaters this year with our handy 2019 movie schedule.

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Josh Brolin Hilariously Responds To Viral Ant-Man Theory

Josh Brolin Hilariously Responds To Viral Ant-Man Theory

It's an extremely exciting time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Avengers: Endgame is less than a month away, so moviegoers will finally see what happened after Josh Brolin's Thanos snapped his finger and destroyed half the galaxy. But until then, the rabid fandom will continue pouring over the brief trailers and making their own creative (and sometimes ridiculous) theories.

A new fan theory went viral this week that is absolutely bonkers. It involves Paul Rudd's Ant-Man, and alleges that he's the key to killing Thanos one and for all. The theory says that Ant-Man should use his shrinking abilities, and then jump into the big purple butt of the Mad Titan. And once he grows, he should tear the villain apart from the inside out. It's scatalogical and kinda brutal, and now Josh Brolin himself has responded. And in the best way possible.

Seriously, how can you not love this man? On top of bringing a surprisingly vulnerable performance to Thanos through motion-capture, Josh Brolin also has a good sense of humor about playing the Mad Titan. So much that he's willing to record viral content from a porcelain throne.

Josh Brolin's video comes from his personal Instagram, and shows that the actor is definitely aware of what the internet says about his signature MCU villain. While not explicitly referencing the wild theory about Ant-Man, Brolin takes the time to get real punny about Endgame's imminent arrival in theaters. His miming of using the toilet was apparently meant to show the tension of the upcoming blockbuster. He also references the marketing "push" ahead of its release. It's all very delightful and gross.

The theory about Ant-Man using Thanos' butt against him has actually been around for a while, although it gained some serious traction in the last week. Plenty of viral memes and videos have hit social media, each more bonkers than the next. While the fans are almost salivating with anticipation ahead of Avengers: Endgame, it's nice that everyone can lighten up and have some fun in the interim period. Because the stakes for the MCU couldn't be higher leading up to the blockbuster's release.

The ending of Avengers: Infinity War shocked everyone, as Thanos assembled the Infinity Stones and wiped out half the galaxy's life with the snap of his finger. Both the audience and surviving heroes were left to watch in horror as countless fan favorite characters faded to dust. It's been a year since that movie arrived in theaters, so the wait for answers has been excruciating.

It should be especially fascinating to see how Josh Brolin's Thanos functions within Endgame's plot. While he finally succeeded in his quest, he did so at great cost. Gamora and the Black Order all perished during Infinity War, and clearly Nebula has it out for him. Thanos has been noticeably absent from the film's marketing material, save for his armor and a quick shot of his hand in a field. Does retirement suit the Mad Titan? And how will he react to the the upcoming battle against The Survivors?

All will be revealed when Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Black Panther's Chadwick Boseman Has One Blunt Response To All MCU Questions

Black Panther's Chadwick Boseman Has One Blunt Response To All MCU Questions

Tom Holland, take note. This is how not to spoil a Marvel movie. Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman recently went to CinemaCon to promote his new film 21 Bridges, but if you get a Marvel star in front of you, it's basically law that you have to ask about Avengers: Endgame. T'Challa was ready for that. He was also ready for follow-ups on Black Panther 2.

Like Lady Gaga before him, Chadwick Boseman went with one simple response to put on repeat for all MCU-related questions. And it was hilarious.

Interviewer: People are ready to see this movie [Avengers: Endgame].

Chadwick Boseman: Of course.

Interviewer: They're buying the tickets, it's nuts. How does that feel to know people love this film so much?

Chadwick Boseman: It's great, but I'm dead. So I can't answer any questions about that.

Interviewer: OK, so you don't want to give us a spoiler or anything like that.

Chadwick Boseman: I'm dead.

Interviewer: How about Black Panther 2, anything you can tell us?

Chadwick Boseman: I'm dead.

Interviewer: We're not ready for you to be dead, Chadwick!

Chadwick Boseman: But I am. I'm dead.

His "I'm dead" response instantly became a meme, of course. It's the ultimate deadpan reply, no pun intended, and now I kind of want to see him in dry comedy (like the soon-to-be-departing Veep).

The "I'm dead" clip is now making the rounds on Twitter, but his full interview was given to Access and starts with talk about the movie he was actually there to promote.

So many Marvel Cinematic Universe stars are in the exact same awkward position, and it's interesting to see how they handle it. We expect circumstances to change dramatically after Avengers: Endgame, and not just because that film will be closely followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home, starring Tom Holland as the also "dead" Peter Parker. Doctor Strange 2 is also in the works, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the also "dead" Dr. Strange. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is also back in the works with writer/director James Gunn, despite most of that group also getting snapped by Thanos at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. And of course we have Black Panther 2 as the follow-up to that $1.3 billion hit.

Right now, the Avengers: Endgame stars are on the press tour, but even the ones who didn't get snapped -- like the Original 6 -- can't really tell us much. And I wouldn't want them to. We only have a few more weeks to wait until the movie opens and can explain itself, and show us where we go from here in the next phase of the MCU. Let's see who is staying and who is going, and then we can probably come back and ask Chadwick Boseman about Black Panther 2.

Hopefully you had a chance to get your Avengers: Endgame tickets after they went on sale this past Tuesday. The world is going to be flooded with reactions after the film comes out, and one question will be on the fate of the Black Panther characters who are expected to return for Black Panther 2. That includes T'Challa but also Letitia Wright as Shuri, who was also snapped, and also the rest of the cast -- possibly even Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger, somehow. Danai Gurira's Okoye survived the snap, and she's featured on the main Avengers: Endgame poster, but it's not clear what her role will be in Avengers 4.

Answers, and probably more questions, are coming when Avengers: Endgame opens here on Friday, April 26. It's just one of the many movies worth keeping tracking of with our handy 2019 movie schedule.

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Hellboy Hasn't Done Well With Critics, But Did Audiences Like It?

Hellboy Hasn't Done Well With Critics, But Did Audiences Like It?

Things were looking rough for the new Hellboy going into this past weekend after reviews were released by critics and the movie was savaged. The film now has a 15% positive score on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, which is a slight improvement over where that number was going into the weekend. However, now that audiences have actually seen the film, Hellboy is faring slightly better with them, as the movie has a 64% audience score on RT, though it has received a C CinemaScore and opened in third place at the box office.

Hellboy's fortunes have been something of a mixed bag over this opening weekend. The best thing going for the movie right now is that about two-third of the fans that have seen the movie have liked it according to Rotten Tomatoes. While that number isn't overwhelmingly positive, getting a strong majority of the people who saw the movie to publicly say they liked it isn't ever a guarantee.

Things are a little bit rougher when it comes to the film's CinemaScore. While a score of C is, well, an average, and thus things could be a lot worse, when compared to other recent releases, Hellboy doesn't do quite as well. Of all recent movies, only Rupert Wyatt's Captive State has a lower score than Hellboy (C-). CinemaScores are tabulated based on surveys given to audiences on opening night, so things are weighted in favor of the film scoring well, as fans who go to see any movie on opening night are likely to be serious fans who have been planning on seeing the film. Most movies do better than a C with CinemaScore and few actually do worse than that.

Finally, there's the box office, which is the ultimate determination of a film's success. While most of the people who saw the movie may have liked it, the fact is not a llarge number of people actually did. Hellboy was projected to bring in something in the neighborhood of $17 million, which wasn't exactly a blockbuster movie number, but would have competed for the box office crown against Shazam!'s second weekend. However, the film ended up doing a much poorer than expected $12 million. That wasn't even enough to be the best new release for the weekend, as the comedy Little was able to do $15 million. Both films fell to Shazam! which added another $25 million to its growing total.

It's possible Hellboy could pick up business internationally. The movie opened in most territories on or before this past Friday, but international numbers have yet to be reported. If other countries were attracted to Hellboy more than people were domestically, the movie could actually turn out ok, or even become a hit if things go very differently. At this point, that's about the only thing left that could save Hellboy, which is probably sad news for those people who actually saw the film and thought it was good.

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Avengers: Endgame Seemingly Confirms Valkyire, More Characters Made It Through The Decimation

Avengers: Endgame Seemingly Confirms Valkyire, More Characters Made It Through The Decimation

While we learned the fate of many of the most important heroes at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a massive place full of characters that we've all come to care about. The last film didn't take the time to show us what happened to all of them, but a collection of new character posters seems to reveal that several characters whose fates were unknown, like Valkyrie, Happy Hogan and Wong appear to have survived Thanos' snap of doom. Here's the new character poster for Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie.

The posters of all the Marvel characters look basically the same. They're all simple headshots of the Marvel hero with the words, "Avenge the Fallen" written across them. However, there is one major difference. Some posters, like the ones for characters we know are alive, like Tony Stark or Nebula, are in full color. Others, for characters we know are dead, like Black Panther or Doctor Strange, are in black and white, as you see here...

If we can safely assume that all characters who get a poster in color are alive, then we can conclude that Valkyrie, Jon Favreau's Happy Hogan, and Wong are all alive, as is Pepper Potts, as their posters are all in color. Since we never saw them fade away or saw them in any scene after the snap had happened, we simply didn't know their fate until now.

Unfortunately, with the good news comes some bad news as well. Letitia Wright's Shuri, who stole the show in Black Panther has been confirmed to be dead by this method, as her poster is in black and white.

Of course, in the case of Valkyrie, one has to wonder if the poster means even more than that. Tessa Thompson's character never appeared in Avengers: Infinity War despite the last place we saw her being the same ship with Thor, Loki, and Hulk. Does the existence of this poster at all mean that Valkyrie will play a role in Avengers: Endgame? Neither Valkyrie nor Happy Hogan had any major role in Infinity War, so one has to wonder why they're getting posters now. The obvious reason is that the characters will matter in the new film. Valkyrie and Happy Hogan save the universe? I'm good with that.

All of our questions will finally be answered, and the fallen will be avenged, April 26.

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Why Shazam! Reshot Mark Strong's Intro As Sivana, And How It Originally Looked

Why Shazam! Reshot Mark Strong's Intro As Sivana, And How It Originally Looked

Reshoots are pretty commonplace in filmmaking, especially for blockbusters. Big studio films are almost guaranteed to reserve a block of time for reshoots. Sometimes things change in the editing room and filmmakers decide they need to get the cameras back out. For example, that very same thing happened on Shazam! The fun superhero film reshot the intro scene for its villain, Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong), because the room he was in was a bit too sterile.

In Shazam!, Dr. Sivana is a man obsessed with breaking into the Rock of Eternity and freeing the Seven Deadly Sins, a group of demons who symbolize the worst traits in humanity. Technically, the first time we see Sivana is as a child in the opening minutes of the film, but the scene that was reshot was his intro as an adult.

The scene in question had Sivana overseeing the questioning of a person who visited the Rock of Eternity in the hopes that he could finally get a clue to return there. Originally, the room he was in was much more sterile with blank white walls, but director David F. Sandberg felt that this wasn't quite the right way to introduce his baddie.

Replying to a comment on Twitter, David F. Sandberg revealed that there wasn't enough extra footage to do a director's cut of Shazam! The footage on screen is exactly what he wanted and all of the unused footage is really just alternate takes of scenes in the film. As an example, he showed a pic of the original introduction for Sivana. It's still the same scene, it just takes place in a different room.

While I can't remember for the life of me what this conference room looked like in the actual movie, I think it was a good call to change the room. It's pretty boring looking, and while I'm sure it could have been spruced up in post-production, that wouldn't likely change much.

We don't know what else was changed in the film during reshoots, but maybe some of these alternate takes will be available on the digital and home release of Shazam! The movie has been enjoying a pretty healthy run at the box office, earning $322.8 million worldwide at the box office. That's pretty good for the first film in what is sure to be a franchise, and DC's hot streak still lives on.

If you missed out on Shazam! or just want to kill some time before Avengers: Endgame later this week, you can still catch the superhero film in theaters. For everything else DC has coming down the pipeline, here's our DC movie guide. If you'd like to know what else is coming this year to plan out all your upcoming theater trips, here's our 2019 movie release guide.

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6 Most Powerful Moments From The New Avengers Endgame Trailer

6 Most Powerful Moments From The New Avengers Endgame Trailer

Another trailer for Avengers: Endgame has arrived out of nowhere, and it's loaded with some footage fans are just now seeing for the first time. While some of it was a bit spoilery (but not really if you've been following the news cycle), it was okay because there were some really powerful moments throughout. These moments really set the tone for how epic the Phase 3 capper will be, and somehow, elevate the already high expectations of fans. Let's go over what was shown.

Black Widow Comforting Hawkeye/Ronin

Clint Barton was absent in Avengers: Infinity War and seemed to be enjoying his life out in the country with his family. Clint is seen showing his daughter archery, and then we wipe to him looking broken and sad in some Asian country in the present. He's hurting, and it's not just evident on his face, it's evident on Black Widow's as well. Natasha sees her longtime S.H.I.E.L.D. comrade is hurting,and holds his hand.

It's that kind of pure moment between them that gives a subtle reminder that these people are more than heroes. They're friends, and they've been brought even closer by this devastating event that surely has all of them hurting. It's a safe assumption there will be a lot of that type of camaraderie as the movie continues, as each Avenger bonds and fights their hardest to honor the ones they've lost.

Thor Charging Up

Thor missed his chance to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, and that mistake resulted in half of the universe being wiped out. Thor probably recognizes that, but he doesn't look to be sulking in this trailer. Far from it actually, as he's looking like a man on a mission as he's gathering lightning either to charge up for some attack or to power some device.

Thor looks at Stormbreaker shortly after this scene, which could mean a couple things. It could be used for some crazy lightning attack, or perhaps that's his way of teleporting between locations. Chances are fast travel will be a necessity during this high-risk mission, and he's one of the few people capable of it besides Captain Marvel. If someone needs to get somewhere fast, expect him to provide transport.

Nebula Charging Into Battle

Nebula had about the worst time of anyone in Avengers: Infinity War, at least among those who are still living in Avengers: Endgame. Now, she's reconstructed, off that ship she was stranded on with Tony and ready to help the Avengers in their fight against Thanos. Whoever she's running towards in this trailer is surely in for a bad time because she looks pissed.

It's a type of rage I'd like to think she's reserving for her father, regardless of his current power status. Thanos admitted to Gamora in the previous movie that Nebula very nearly killed him, which is surprising given those who've have failed before. Perhaps she knows something the rest of the team doesn't and will attempt to exploit that weakness again in a rematch? Provided she gets one, of course, because it's very possible this war charge is directed towards someone else.

Cap's Grimace

Captain America looks mostly composed throughout the Avengers: Endgame trailer, all except one scene in which he's seen strapping into his old shield. Cap tightens the strap and seems to react with a rather painful grimace which signifies he's in some pain. The trailer makes it appear it's related to the arm, which could be broken. Had he put that shield on a bit sooner, that may not have happened!

If there's a positive to this scene, it appears as though someone scooped up Steve's shield after he dramatically dropped it to the ground following Captain America: Civil War. My personal hope is that Tony saved it, hoping to return it to his friend after telling him he didn't deserve to carry the shield. Hopefully these two manage to get on better terms before the action really kicks off, and we get a heartwarming moment peppered in between the ass-kicking.

Rhodey And Rocket

Well, here are two characters no one really expected to team up. It's not that there's any reason to think Rocket Raccoon and War Machine wouldn't make a great dynamic duo, but like, how did this come about? If I had to guess, Rocket's probably drawn to Rhodey's impressive weapons array on the suit, and may even have a few upgrade suggestions he could provide for him.

Another thing worth mentioning here is that Rocket is wearing the same outfit he's usually seen with in the comics. That doesn't really make this moment anymore powerful, but the fact he has a look on his face that makes it look like they're about to rain hell on somebody definitely does. Hopefully these two wreak havok on whoever they're targeting and we get three spinoff films after this titled Rhodey and Rocket.

The Team Walk

We've seen edited and different iterations of The Avengers' team walk in previous Endgame trailers, but this was the first time we witnessed the scene in this way. Everyone's rocking new suits, they look determined and have that cool swagger that only really comes through in slow motion. Who can look at this scene and say anything other than "Hell yeah" after watching?

It gets even better, as it's entirely possible this isn't the final version of the Avengers: Endgame scene. It seems very likely at this point that Marvel is intentionally excluding one more character from the epic walkthrough,, although I'm thinking Hulk or Okoye are reasonable candidates. We'll keep those looking to avoid spoilers free from exactly who that may be, but suffice to say it's going to elevate that scene just a bit more. Now if we just knew where they were walking to!

The mystery behind all these questions will soon be revealed as Avengers: Endgame is due out in theaters April 26. CinemaBlend is the place for movie lovers to be before and after its premiere, as well have plenty of reactions, news, and analysis following the movie. For more on the MCU, check out our breakdown of the places the Tesseract has been since this all kicked off.

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