‘Fantastic Four’ director blames studio interference for ruining film

Some estimates had it at $40-45 million, so this one hurts even more.

The picture artists a fun-filled crew of thespians in Kate Mara, Miles Teller, Michael B Jordan and Jamie Bell yet the picture nonetheless looks like hopeless at that time. He seemed to acknowledge those tensions, blaming studio-mandated reshoots for the poor critical notices in a tweet Thursday that he subsequently deleted. Directed by Josh Trank, the Marvel Comics superhero team-up stars Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan.

Fox’s hopes of rejuvenating the comic book characters and turning the super-team into a cinematic juggernaut to rival “The X-Men” have flamed out given that the film debuted to a terrible $26.2 million across 3,995 theaters. In 2012, Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance, from Sony, launched to $22.1 million (that movie cost notably less to make).

Fantastic Four can open on the big screen this Friday. Audiences were also not pleased and gave the movie a CinemaScore of C-.

That wasn’t enough to top “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”, which was number one at the box office for a second week in a row with an estimated $US29.4 million, according to Exhibitor Relations. BoxOffice.com was forecasting $43 million. His thriller The Gift was a hit with reviewers (an enviable 92% score from Rotten Tomatoes) and, despite only earning $12 million for a third place start, is already a money-maker thanks to a very modest $5 million budget.

EW says 20th Century Fox “delayed casting and script approvals, slashed the budget by tens of millions from what was originally promised, and tried to force last-minute changes to the film just as principal photography was beginning”.

The top five was rounded out by Warner Bros.’ “Vacation” with $9.1 million and Disney and Marvel’s “Ant-Man” with $7.8 million, pushing their totals to $37.3 million and $147.4 million, respectively. The Aardman ‘toon appeared to underperform in 11th with $4 million, though given its status as a pickup by Lionsgate, it’s actually not a bad opening given the current competition. “Shaun the Sheep” reaped $4 million from 2,320 theaters, which shows why “The Gift” might have been the surprise of the weekend since they were in the same ballpark in terms of theaters showing the film.