The Fantastic Four (2015)

The Fantastic Four (2015 film)
The Fantastic Four (stylized as THE FANT4STIC on promotional material) 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, the film stars Anton Yelchin, Saoirse Ronan, Michael B Jordan , Aaron Taylor-Johnson , and Toby Kebbell . Simon Kinberg and Jeremy Slater wrote the screenplay from a story conceived by Kinberg and Trank. In The Fantastic Four, the team must learn to harness their abilities and work together 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 premiered in New York on August 4, 2015, and was released in theaters on August 7. The film was universally praised by critics and audiences alike and performed well at the box office, earning $106.57 million in North America during its opening weekend (against a budget of $210 million, including marketing). A sequel is scheduled for release on June 14, 2017.

Synopsis
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 Manhattan-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 Von Domashev. Their conflict is put aside when they begin to harness daunting abilities gained from an alternate universe and must save Earth from an interdimensional warlord.

Cast

 * Anton Yelchin as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic: Richards has been exploring the universe in his garage after school. After being transformed by one of his experiments, he gains the ability to stretch his body into different forms and lengths. Yelchin 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."
 * Saoirse Ronan as Susan Storm/Invisible Woman: Brilliant, independent and sarcastic, Storm has the ability to become invisible and generate force-fields. Ronan 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 with writer Simon Kinberg adding, that the film is not based on a single issue of the Fantastic Four comic books. Ronan has also said that she intended to focus on making her character "as real as possible" adding she's independently strong while considered her the surrogate mother of the group.
 * Michael B Jordan as Johnathan Storm/Human Torch: Engineer, troublemaker, thrill-seeker and the younger brother of Susan Storm, he has the ability to shoot fireballs and fly. Jordan said of the cast, "We're more or less a bunch of kids 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."
 * Aaorn Taylor-Johnson as Ben Grimm/The Thing: Diligent, warm, sensitive, a loyal and protective friend, Grimm's stone body gives him super-strength and makes him "indestructible". Trank said Grimm grew up an alienated child in a "tough" neighborhood. Trank also said that Johnson has "qualities" of warmth and strength which people would want to see from Grimm. In preparation for the motion-capture performance, Johnson approached actor Andy Serkis for advice. He has said that Grimm is the "heart of the group [Fantastic Four]". Evan Hannemann portrays Grimm as a child.
 * Toby Kebbell as Viktor Von Domashev/Dr Doom: A robotics expert and computer scientist who's a former chld prodigy mentored by Dr. Franklin Storm. Domashev finds a new father of sorts in Storm. Angry, vengeful, and bright, Kebbell 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 would show how he becomes a villain.
 * Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Franklin Storm: The biological father of Johnny and adoptive father to Sue.
 * Tim Blake Nelson as Harvey Elder: Conspiracy theorist, biologists and crypto-zoologist. Harvey Elder is the one to find Annihilus in a cave on Monster Island. About the movie, Nelson 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 'Hulk' and feel extremely blessed that Marvel, Fox and especially Josh Trank and his team have invited me back into this universe. The script is excellent. It has real heart, and it shows an understanding of what it is to be a burgeoning adult geeked out to the margins. "
 * Amber Stevens as Alyssa Moy: Scientist and understudy of Professor Harvey Elder.
 * Michael Cudlitz as Wilford Lumpkin: The Baxter's prodigy recruitment agent.
 * Anna Popplewell as Alicia Masters: Blind sculptor and fiance of Ben Grimm.
 * Genevieve Knight Hannelius as Enid Richards: Little sister of Reed Richards
 * Tim Heidecker as Gary Richards: Father of Reed Richards and sometimes a "pain in the ass."
 * Mark Ryan voices Annhilus

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.

Casting
In January 2014, Kinberg has finished rewriting the script and casting for the roles of Reed Richards and Sue Storm began. Miles Teller, Kit Harington, Anton Yelchin and Jack O'Connell were tested for the role of Johnny Storm, while Brie Larson, Saoirse Ronan , Margot Robbie and Emmy Rossum were tested for Susan Storm. In February, it was revealed that Anton Yelchin would play Reed Richards/ Mister Fantastic and Saoirse Ronan was cast as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman. In March, Toby Kebbell was cast as Doctor Doom. Michael B Jordan confirmed that he would portray Johnny Storm/ Human Torch and in addition to confirming Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been cast as Ben Grimm / The Thing. Sam Riley, Toby Kebbell, and Domhnall Gleeson were also considered for Doctor Doom. In April, Tim Blake Nelson entered final negotiations to play Harvey Elder. In May, Jeffrey Wright was cast as Sue and Johnny's father, Dr. Franklin Storm 

Filming
Principal photography commenced on May 5, 2014 at Celtic Media Centre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and ended on August 23, 2014. The film was planned to be shot in Vancouver, Canada, but was moved to Louisiana due to the state's film production tax incentives. On August 15, actor Jaylen Moore tweeted a photo of a commemorative jacket he received from the producers for working on the production, revealing the film's title as The Fantastic Four

Post Production
film used OTOY for the visual effects. According to Josh Trank, with the use of cloud-rendering technology from OTOY, they could create visual effects at a much lower cost. Moving Picture Company and Weta Digital also created visual effects for the film. Plans to convert the film to 3D in post-production were 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.[53] Philip Glass was also hired to work on the score with Beltrami. Additionally, American hip-hop recording artist El-P scored the end credits of the film. To promote the film, Kim Nam-joon, known as Rap Monster of the Kpop group Bangtan Boys, and American recording artist Mandy Ventrice, worked on the digital single "Fantastic", which was released alongside the South Korean run of the film. In July 2015, Beltrami attended the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International to discuss scoring the film. Beltrami described the score as "eerie" and "mysterious", landing it in a "musical territory leaning towards fantasy." 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 very positive response. Graeme McMillan of The Hollywood Reporter gave the trailer a positive review, stating that it is a "surprisingly strong step in the right direction for a faithful adaptation of an often-problematic property." Abraham 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." Correspondents for Newsarama noted that it was "creepy" but still easily able to be characterized as being based on the Fantastic Four, feeling it benefited heavily on 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 of HitFix said the film "looks like it was approached with serious intent" and that the scale "feels positively intimate, if not gargantuan." In the same month, the cast attended CinemaCon to present footage from the film, which also generated huge positive reviews. Promontial partners for the film include Crush, Denny's, Scotch Tape and Zagg. In July 2015 Trank, Kinberg and cast members Yelchin, Ronan, Jordan, Johnson and Kebbell attended San Diego Comic-Con International to present the film.

Release
The film is scheduled for release in North America on August 7, 2015 in 2D and 3D theaters. The film was originally scheduled in December 2012 for a March 6, 2015 release date, and was later changed again in November 2013 to June 19, 2015, before settling on it's final date.

Box office
As of August 12, 2015, The Fantastic Four has grossed $198.74 million in North America and $74.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $273 million, against a production budget of $212 million ($200 million including marketing and distribution costs).

In the United States and Canada, Fantastic Four was projected to take the top spot and earn around $60–70 million in its opening weekend, which would be higher than the opening weekend gross of 2005's Fantastic Four ($56.1 million) and 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ($58.1 million). The film made $10.7 million from late night previews on the night of August 6. On its opening day, Fantastic Four earned $71.7 million (including Thursday's preview screenings), higher than early tracking, and $107.2 million on its opening weekend. It came in first place above Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation ($28.5 million).

Outside North America, it grossed $55.6 million on its opening weekend from 43 countries from 8,996 screens, coming in first place above Rogue Nation at the international box office. While it overperformed in certain countries, it opened at number two in 20 countries.

Critical reception
The Fantastic Four has received widespread critical acclaim. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an 89% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 7.1/10, based on 201 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "eerie, unique and stylish with superb performances, the film, unlike previous adaptations of the superhero team, ignores all the cheesy tropes and creates a grounded and tragic tale with plenty of humor, joy, and colorful thrills." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 69 based on 40 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews"

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave Fantastic Four four stars out of four, calling it a "tragically, triumphant motif." Jim Vejvoda of IGN praised the film as "stunning and oddly terrifying", and said that the two previous Fantastic Four films "seem so much worse in hindsight", and that the film showed plenty of enough character development between the members of the team. He also praised the films visuals adding, "it's starch-and-simplicity will leave your jaw-dropping". Brian Lowry of Variety found the film to have well-crafted themes but found the pacing to be uneven and added the writing "sometimes try its hardest to be smart, but left with dull pseudoscience and heavy exposition." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter felt the film to be "one of the best superhero films ever made." He called the film "disturbing, spectacular and unprecedented", in addition to praising the visual style as a "vibrant." In a review for Screen Daily, Tim Grierson loved the film's narrative and called the film "brilliant. Nothing more, nothing less".

In contrast, David Jenkins of Little White Lies criticized The Fantastic Four and argued that the film's characters "make decisions which lack credibility, and the writing doesn't work hard enough to show you why these people are doing what they are doing – and not just haphazard patching work, but believable reasons which build on the themes of the movie". James Berardinelli gave the film two and a half stars out of five, stating that The Fantastic Four is "no better or worse [than] the other superhero movies of 2015", welcoming the dark tone, and praising the performances of the main actors. However, he stated that "As a superhero movie, it falls into the 'adequate' range of the spectrum - neither memorable nor forgettable."

Accolades
Fantastic Four received the CinemaCon Ensemble Award in April 2015.

Sequel
A sequel is scheduled to be released on June 14, 2017. Josh Trank will return to direct.