‘Fantastic Four’ director Josh Trank claims final version isn’t his own

In a now deleted Tweet, the filmmaker pointed the finger of blame in Fox’s direction, stating that he had an, er, fantastic version of the origins story that was altered in its journey from page to screen. “And it would’ve received great reviews”, Trank tweeted of the 20th Century Fox and Marvel team-up.

You’d be surprised to know that director Josh Trank didn’t really encourage the cast of “Fantastic Four” or “Fant4stic” to read the comic books in order to prepare for their action-packed roles.

What Trank’s tweet implies is that the version hitting movie theatres this week has movie executive hands all over it. Fox certainly wouldn’t be the first film studio to tamper with a superhero flick to the detriment of quality.

The Hollywood Reporter, considered to be the go-to publication to get an insight into the industry, predicts that Fantastic Four will open to $40 million in its opening week, with a dramatic drop-off once word gets around. A sequel has already been dated for 2017, although it remains to be seen if it will come to fruition. (As long as your movie theater is healthfully air-conditioned, we guess.).

Fantastic Four, which should gross roughly $12 million on Friday, including $2.7 million from Thursday-night previews, should still win the weekend overall ahead of holdover Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

“Fantastic Four” has a 9% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with critics slamming the film’s special effects, plotting and acting, and one calling it “awful beyond description”. Not as the thought-provoking character study I think it may want to be (although it’s hard to tell).

Director Josh Trank didn’t like it much, either. He was handed the keys to important marvel property The Fantastic Four after showing he could make an intriguing, low-budget take on the superhero genre in Chronicle, but production was anything but smooth.

Trank also said the rumored clash did not lead to Disney/Lucasfilm dropping him from directing one of the upcoming stand-alone “Star Wars” films, the script of which was reportedly written by Kinberg.