It cost $ 122 million to make. t was forecasted to rake in $ 43 million, but only had box office sales of $ 26.2 million in North America. Fantastic Four just did not live up to expectations, and has become the 'Fantastic Flop'.
Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation continue to cruise with $ 29.4 million sales so far.
What pre-empted the poor sales? Maybe the tweet of its director, Josh Trank, had something to do. He tweeted on social media, '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 a reality, though'.
There are rumors of that the studio and the director clashed, having different outlooks. Phil Contrino, Chief Analyst for BoxOffice.com, said, 'that often results in a muddled film'.
Some people involved in the movie say it was the studio's fault. 21st Century Fox apparently delayed casting and script approvals. The budget for production was hugely slashed. The studio wanted to reboot the Fantastic Four, referred to as the 'World's Greatest Comic Magazine'. The big-screen movies of it in 2005 and 2007 also disappointed, and they were hoping an 8-year absence would change things. They were not happy with the comic book versions of the characters, and there were last-minute rewrites that caused much confusion, especially among the production people.
On the other hand, there are those who say it was not about creative differences between the studio and director Trank. They blame the abusive behavior of the director towards the stars, producers and the crew. A behavior brought on by personal drama in his life, which made him hostile and frustrated.
Millions were spent to market the product. It paid for public relations to say there is no fight, and that everyone got along fine. There were unconfirmed reports the director was removed, and that when he saw the final cut, he was not happy about it. Still others say Trank was never removed, and even blame him for the obvious flop of the movie.
