Unfortunately Marvel’s latest reiteration of the “Fantastic Four”;, set to hit theatres this weekend, isn’t shaping up to be so fantastic.
Starring Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell, the film received a 9 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has been panned by critics like Variety’s Brian Lowry who wrote the reboot “feels like a protracted teaser for a more exciting follow-up… that might never happen.”;
So who’s to blame for the less than stellar ratings? Some are targeting director Josh Trank, who went on the defensive Thursday tweeting that he is not responsible for the final cut of the film.
“A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would’ve received great reviews,”; Trank tweeted of the 20th Century Fox and Marvel team-up. “You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though.”;
The tweet was quickly deleted from his account.
The director was scheduled to shoot a “Star Wars”; spinoff next for Disney and Lucasfilm, but abruptly left the project earlier this year.
Explaining his departure, Trank said he needed a break from high-profile movies, “I want to do something original after this because I’ve been living under public scrutiny, as you’ve seen, for the last four years of my life,” he said. “And it’s not healthy for me right now in my life. I want to do something that’s below the radar.”
Following the announcement, rumours began that the 31-year-old director had been fired from the “Star Wars”; film due to erratic behaviour that left producers to step in and finish “Fantastic Four”;.
“None of those facts were true,” he said. “And any of the facts that were true were spun in such a maliciously wrong way.”
“Fantastic Four”; is expected to debut at $40 million this weekend at the box office, about $80 million shy of its production budget.
The studio could not be reached for comment.