"Fantastic Four" On Track to Debut at #1 Despite Poor Reviews

[CBR News]

"Fantastic Four" grossed $2.7 million in Thursday night showings, though the film currently has a 9 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.


Full article here.

[solletaire]

Mmmm, not so much: "Early estimates show the 20th Century Fox release struggling to hit $30 million for the weekend, which is well below the anticipated mid-$40 million mark."

http://variety.com/2015/film/box-off...ce-1201559318/

[Brian B]

Mmmm, not so much: "Early estimates show the 20th Century Fox release struggling to hit $30 million for the weekend, which is well below the anticipated mid-$40 million mark."

http://variety.com/2015/film/box-off...ce-1201559318/

It's actually worse than that. The original tracking had it, supposedly, around $50 million or more. If they hit $40 million+ opening weekend, Fox has a shot at making its money back.

[Username taken]

It'll probably open at number 1 but still bomb.

It's not projected to do well over the weekend.

[Brian B]

It'll probably open at number 1 but still bomb.

It's not projected to do well over the weekend.

$40 mil+ would be pretty respectable, wouldn't it? I mean, yes, the film probably will be struggling to reach that mark, but if they hit it, that's probably respectable for this particular movie.

[Username taken]

$40 mil+ would be pretty respectable, wouldn't it? I mean, yes, the film probably will be struggling to reach that mark, but if they hit it, that's probably respectable for this particular movie.

Based on the recent info, the movie will do between $9.5M- $11m opening day including $2.7m midnights.

The movie isn't doing close to $40m this weekend. It's very likely going to open in the $20m-$30m range.

If it opens in that range, it's a complete bomb.

[solletaire]

$40 mil+ would be pretty respectable, wouldn't it? I mean, yes, the film probably will be struggling to reach that mark, but if they hit it, that's probably respectable for this particular movie.

Ant-Man made 11.5% of it's weekend sales on Thursday. If Fant4stic performs in a similar trend and 2.7MIL is ~11.5 of it's total outcome, then the total weekend sum is ~23.4 MIL. Even if it follows MI:5 trend, the same formula leads a much more encouraging 37.5 MIL (but, lets be honest, that movie got stellar reviews and excellent word of mouth). All said and done, what I want to know is how did these people arrive at the conclusion that based on Thursday this movie would make 40+ MIL?!

[Derek Metaltron]

At the end of the day, given the sheer number of issues they've had to endure like Josh Trank, the ire of the long term fans, the critics and the multiple issues by multiple parties, even if FF makes a reasonable amount of money to have them consider a sequel properly, are the cast really going to want to go for it? I can see at least one of them deciding to drop that, contracts or not.

I will repeat my words to all who are thinking of seeing this movie out of morbid curiosity - don't. If you go to watch this you are as good as telling Fox you want more of this nonsense. If you want a decent chance of the MCU having the FF rights back, don't go to see it.

[solletaire]

At the end of the day, given the sheer number of issues they've had to endure like Josh Trank, the ire of the long term fans, the critics and the multiple issues by multiple parties, even if FF makes a reasonable amount of money to have them consider a sequel properly, are the cast really going to want to go for it? I can see at least one of them deciding to drop that, contracts or not.

I will repeat my words to all who are thinking of seeing this movie out of morbid curiosity - don't. If you go to watch this you are as good as telling Fox you want more of this nonsense. If you want a decent chance of the MCU having the FF rights back, don't go to see it.

I don't think that you should not see the movie because the rights should revert to Marvel.

You should not see the movie because by all accounts it's a bad movie. And honestly, we as moviegoers, deserve better from a project that sucked in 120 million dollars.

You should also not go see it if you, like me, suspect that FOX didn't really want to do a good movie as much as do a movie so that the rights to the franchise don't revert to Marvel.

[Derek Metaltron]

I don't think that you should not see the movie because the rights should revert to Marvel.

You should not see the movie because by all accounts it's a bad movie. And honestly, we as moviegoers, deserve better from a project that sucked in 120 million dollars.

You should also not go see it if you, like me, suspect that FOX didn't really want to do a good movie as much as do a movie so that the rights to the franchise don't revert to Marvel.

I think all of these reasons are valid. And clearly I only put 'more decent chance' than a certainty because we know that Fox will try other tactics before giving Marvel the rights back. But I feel like denying them the profit from fans tired of their attempts, especially when this one feels a dozen times worse than the previous two films in my opinion, makes the chance they'll be forced into a corner a little more possible.

[Living Silver]

I don't think that you should not see the movie because the rights should revert to Marvel.

You should not see the movie because by all accounts it's a bad movie. And honestly, we as moviegoers, deserve better from a project that sucked in 120 million dollars.

You should also not go see it if you, like me, suspect that FOX didn't really want to do a good movie as much as do a movie so that the rights to the franchise don't revert to Marvel.

If they didn't want to make a good movie, why did they sink 120 million into it? Doesn't make sense.

[The Nuke]

It's actually worse than that. The original tracking had it, supposedly, around $50 million or more. If they hit $40 million+ opening weekend, Fox has a shot at making its money back.

A chance at making the budget, not making their money back. A film these days has to make 3 times it's budget to actually be considered profitable.

This is why a movie like Man of Steel which make 600 million was considered only a small success. A lot of this money is paying actors and a big chunk of it is advertising. Another example being ASM2, and that ended with Marvel getting to use Spider-Man again and help Sony.

So even if it does become number one, this is not a victory for the film. Unless those over seas love the F4, this movie will be considered a flop. Plus even if it were to be a so so success, you still have the bad reviews. Agree or not, they go against the films legacy. Which means it goes against the chances of people coming back for a sequel. Which mean another F4 reboot wouldn't happen for years. Which mean the ownership of the rights will eventually run out if nothing is done. Given that the F4 haven't been a great success like X-Men were for FOX, you can guarantee Marvel is paying attention to how this ends. They want their 4 back, and they have more cards on their side in order to achieve this goal. Now what could happen is that Fox will try to go for a deal like Sony did with Spider-Man, that is a possibility only that Sony still had some leverage given the own the best Marvel hero, who has made money for them, the F4 have not.

Some might say, "Why would Marvel want the F4 back anyway?" Maybe they don't, but you can bet they want GALACTUS, SILVER SUFER, and DOOM. Especially DOOM.

[thejka]

Some might say, "Why would Marvel want the F4 back anyway?" Maybe they don't, but you can bet they want GALACTUS, SILVER SUFER, and DOOM. Especially DOOM.

Of course they want the F4 back. I'm 100% sure Kevin Feige believes he knows how to make a good Fantastic Four film.