The Fantastic Four (2015)

The Fantastic Four (2015 film)
The Fantastic Four is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is the third theatrical Fantastic Four film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox, and a reboot of the Fantastic Four film franchise. Directed by Josh Trank, with a screenplay by Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater and Trank, the film stars Jack O'Connell, Forrest Griffin, Brie Larson, Michael. B Jordan, Jack Huston, Jeffrey Wright and Tim Blake Nelson. In Fantastic Four, the team must learn to harness abilities gained from an alternate universe to save Earth from an interdimensional warlord.

In August 2009, the development of the film was announced. In July 2012, Trank was hired to direct and Slater to write the screenplay. In October 2013, Kinberg was hired as a co-writer. By January 2014, Kinberg finished rewriting the script and casting began. Principal photography commenced in May 2014 and concluded in August the same year. The film was shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Fantastic Four is scheduled for release on August 7, 2015 in North America, in 2D theaters.

Premise
Brilliant military scientist Reed Richards and ace test pilot Ben Grimm make a discovery that threatens an entire Air Force operation, but before seeing the job through to its end, Reed is asked to join 'Future Foundation'. A manhatten-based think tank where he reunites with his old mentor Franklin Storm, fraternizes with Sue and Johnny Storm, who've grown up since they last met, and forms a rivalry with Storm's' new apprentice Viktor Domashev. On a daunting mission when four are teleported to an alternate universe, which alters their physical form and grants them new abilities, they must learn to harness their abilities and work together as a team to save the Earth from an interdimensional warlord.

Cast
Additionally, Owen Judge and Evan Hannemann will play young Ben Grimm and Reed Richards respectively. Mary Rachael Dudley is cast as Reed Richards mother and Alex Russell voices HERBIE.
 * Jack O'Connell as Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards: After being transformed by one of his experiments, he gained the ability to stretch his body into different forms and lengths. O'Connell said of the role, "When I read the script, I was reading this larger-than-life, incredible superhero tale. These are all very human people that end up having to become what is known as the Fantastic Four. For me it  gives me an opportunity to play something different from my own skin."''
 * Brie Larson as Susan Storm/Invisble Woman: Brilliant, independent and sarcastic, Storm has the ability to become invisible and generate force-fields. Larson said that she was supposed to read the Fantastic Four comic books for preparation. However, director Josh Trank suggested to her that it was unnecessary and that it allowed the actors to build more naturalism in their performance, with writer Simon Kinberg adding that the film is not based on a single issue of the Fantastic Four comic books. She later admitted to have read behind the producers back. Larson has also said that she intended to focus on making her character as adamant, sublime, and "as real as possible". Trank and Larson has described Storm as "smart, dignified and with integrity."
 * Michael B. Jordan as Johnathan Storm/Human Torch: A troublemaker and thrill-seeker, Storm has the ability to ignite his entire body, shoot fireballs and fly. Of the story, "We're more or less a bunch of young adults that had an accident and we have disabilities now that we have to cope with, and try to find a life afterwards – try to be as normal as we can, but obviously, conflict follows. It's really about coming to terms with reality and using these new found powers for a bigger, unimaginable cause."
 * Forrest Griffin as Ben Grimm/The Thing': Warm, sensitive, and a loyal and protective friend, Grimm's stone body gives him super-strength and makes him "indestructible". Trank has said Grimm has a childhood element in the film who was an alienated kid from a "tough" neighborhood. He's later described him as the heart of the team.
 * Jack Huston as Victor Domashev/Dr Doom: An anti-social robotics programmer known as "Doom" online. Huston said that he concentrated the most on the voice of the character, adding, "on the animated series, they never got his voice what I imagined it to be when I read the comics as a little boy. What I spent the majority of my time doing was not just being a fan, but being a bit of pedant and making sure I got exactly what I always wanted to see." Kinberg said that Doom is as central to the film as the "titular" heroes. He added that Doom has "aspirations and struggles that are a little bit more classically tragic than the other characters" and that the film will feature how he becomes a villain.
 * Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Franklin Storm: Wright's character has been described as the father figure to the group.
 * Tim Blake Nelson as Harvey Elder: About the movie, he said, "Without going into detail, the script has as much soul as it does action. And it has a lot of action." He continued, "I absolutely loved working on 'Hulk' and feel extremely blessed that Marvel, Fox, and especially Josh Trank and his team have invited me back into the universe. The script is excellent. It has real heart, and it shows a true understanding of what it is to be a burgeoning adult geeked out to the margins."
 * Mark Ryan voices Annihilus:
 * Anna Popplewell as Dr. Alyssa Moy: English Scientist and works under Proffesor Harvey Elder.
 * Reg E. Cathey as Gary Richards: Step-father of Reed Richards, retired NASA astronaut and sometimes "a pain in the ass."
 * Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs as Alicia Masters: Fiance of Ben Grimm and is a blind sculptress.
 * Genevieve Knight Hannelius as Enid Richards: Reed Richard's' younger sister.

Development
''"This  Fantastic Four  movie is sort of a celebration of all the  Fantastic Four  comics that have preceded it. We have elements from the original  Fantastic Four  that there's a sort of optimism and inspirational quality to the film. In some ways a comedy that was really distinct in the original  Fantastic Four . Also, the notion of this dysfunctional surrogate family that comes together and has to work together is very present in the movie that owes a great debt to the originals and this idea that they are scientist and that it's almost like this science adventure, more than being superheroes... We also owe a lot to the  Ultimate' s and the current crop of  Fantastic Four  comics." ''

—Simon Kinberg on adapting the Fantastic Four comic books into film.

In August 2009, 20th Century Fox announced a reboot of the Fantastic Four film franchise. Akiva Goldsman was attached as producer and Michael Green was hired to write the script. In July 2012, Josh Trank was hired to direct and Jeremy Slater was hired as screenwriter. In February 2013, Matthew Vaughn was attached as a producer and Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to polish the script. In October, Simon Kinberg was hired to co-write and produce the film.

Kinberg said that the film is a celebration of all Fantastic Four comic books and its inspired by its history. He added that Trank had a vision for the film to be more grounded, more character driven, more emotional, and a little more dramatic compared to the previously released Fantastic Four films. According to 20th Century Fox's consultant for their Marvel Comics based films, Mark Millar, it would take place in the same universe as the X-Men film series. However, Kinberg contradicted his statement.

Trank said that the film is heavily influenced by David Cronenberg, and that 1981's Scanners and 1986's The Fly influenced the look of the film, and its overall tone will feel like Steven Spielberg meets Tim Burton.

Casting
In January 2014, Kinberg has finished rewriting the script and casting for the roles of Reed Richards and Sue Storm began. Anton Yelchin', Kit Harrington, Richard Madden and Jack O' O'Connell were tested for the role of Reed Richards, while Kate Mara, Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie and Emmy Rossum'' were tested for Susan Storm. In February, it was revealed that Michael B. Jordan was cast as Johnny Storm / Human Torch and Mara was cast as Sue Storm /Invisible Woman. In March, Toby Kebbell was cast as Doctor Doom. Yelchin confirmed that he would portray Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic and in addition, confirmed Miles Teller had been cast as Ben Grimm / The Thing. Sam Riley, Eddie Redmayne, and Domhnall Gleeson were considered for Doctor Doom. In April, Tim Blake Nelson entered final negotiations to play Harvey Elder. In May, James Remar was cast as Sue's and Johnny's father, Dr. Storm. The following weeks Gugu Mbatha-Raw was cast as Grimm's fiance, Alicia Masters. The Walking Dead's Abraham Ford actor Michael Cudlitz was cast to play Wilford "Willie" Lumpkin, the Baxter Building's mailman and prodigy recruitment agent. Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn's Anna Popplewell will play Reed's former love interest Dr. Alyssa Moy an English scientist and explorer working under Professor Elder. Reg E. Cathey was cast in March to take on the role which he described as brief but high-impact as Reed's step-father, retired NASA astronaut Gary Richards.

Filming
Fantastic Four had a production budget of $150 million. Principal photography commenced on May 5, 2014 at Celtic Media Centre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and ended on August 23, 2014, lasting for 72 days. The film was planned to be shot in Vancouver, Canada, but was moved to Louisiana due to the state's film production tax incentives.

Post Production
The film is using OTOY for the visual effects. According to Josh Trank, with the use of cloud-rendering technology from OTOY, they can create visual effects at a much lower cost. Moving Picture Company and Weta Digital are attached to create visual effects. The film was planned to be converted to 3D in post-production but was canceled with Trank stating that he wanted "the viewing experience of Fantastic Four to remain as pure as possible."

Music
In January 2015, Marco Beltrami was hired to compose the film's score. Philip Glass was also hired to compose the score with Beltrami. The film score will be released on August 14, 2015 by Sony Classical Records.

MARKETING
The teaser trailer for Fantastic Four was released in January 2015 to generally positive response. Graeme McMillan of The Hollywood Reporter gave the trailer a positive review, stating that it's a "surprisingly strong step in the right direction for a faithful adaptation of an often-problematic property." Abraham Joseph Riesman of New York‍ '​s Vulture also responded to the trailer positively, saying that the film "could be the most innovative and tonally unique marquee superhero movie." However, correspondents for Newsarama noted that there was "nothing" in the trailer to characterize it as being based on the Fantastic Four, feeling it could have easily have been a substitute for similar science-fiction films such as 2014's Interstellar. The trailer became the most-watched trailer in 20th Century Fox's history, surpassing the previous record-holder, 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The second trailer for the film was released in April 2015. Sean O'Connell of CinemaBlend called the trailer "amazing" and said "[it] does a much better job of setting up everyone's roles." Drew McWeeny ofHitFix said the film "looks like it was approached with serious intent" and that the scale "feels positively intimate." In the same month, the cast attended CinemaCon to present footage from the film, which also generated positive reviews.

Promotional partners for the film include Crush, Denny's, Scotch Tape and Zagg.

In July 2015, Trank, Kinberg and cast members Bell, Franco, Mara, Teller, Kebbell and Jordan will attend the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International to present the film. Fantastic Four 2