Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies and Streaming Series Discussion

variety.com

4 Reasons Why ‘Fantastic Four’ Ended Marvel’s Box Office Slump

Variety unpacks why "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" ended Marvel's box office cold-streak.
variety.com variety.com

Though last year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” was a massive, billion-dollar hit, Marvel’s two prior movies, “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts*,” were major money losers — and analysts were wondering whether “superhero fatigue” was to blame. However, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” landed in the wake of another major comic book adaptation, Warner Bros. and DC’s “Superman,” and still managed a debut above $100 million. The back-to-back wins of “The Fantastic Four” and “Superman” indicate that audiences are willing to show up for comic book adventures as long as the onscreen action is watchable.
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Right.
 
Psh. They've had hits since Endgame and they've had outstanding and "watchable". FF isn't the first to be all that together, but glad the majority is feeling Marvel is back.
 
Assorted FF thoughts after seeing it again, notes, nitpicks, etc - probably things many have noticed:

Notes -
  • You briefly see a Stan and Jack in their office with comic pages, including the Watcher, early on as the surfer's first appearance - they are listed as Timely Employee #1 and #2 in the credits.
  • Doom? is listed as music by Alan Silvestri, so apparently the Doom theme is used in the credits sequence.
  • There is a movie marquee that seems to have the same movie (the name of which escapes me) in all scenes over the course of the film, making me think it was a huge hit in that universe. (I liked they called this the Kirby universe after his birthdate)

Nit picks/"Aksually"
  • Launching the Excelsior (hi Stan) from Manhattan with people that close would not be safe - there is a reason people are not close to rocket launches, the sound waves/pressure are lethal if you are too close.
  • I know why they do it in terms of having markers for people, but the transportation towers being in the middle of cities was silly and meant they not evenly distributed.
  • Galactus' ship sure took its time getting from Saturn to Earth.
  • I wish we had just a little bit more of Ben being unsure of talking to the teacher given his appearance - needed a scene between the "meet cute" and the scene at the synagogue I felt.
  • I also felt Johnny needed to be a bit more of a player, we never really saw him being the heartthrob/eligible bachelor, which would have also played into the reaction of "sure, the silver alien likes you" as him thinking they all like him.
  • Giving Franklin the 5 logo suit instead of a 4 1/2 logo...sigh...
  • People seemed pretty OK with the idea that the Earth was going to be teleported. I think that might have been a plan I questioned, and that Reed didn't think about teleporting Big G until the other plan failed - not sure what to think of that.
  • I do wish there might have been a glimpse of the idea that Shalla-Bal was waiting for a planet to be able to fight back, or even selected Earth because she thought they might be able to fight back - needed a bit more sense of hopelessness about her fate and her not liking selecting the planets.

Theories -
  • I am going to guess that the fight with Red Ghost was going to happen as a small set piece to show the team working together, just after the TV show montage that opened the film. It would have made sense if the gag at the end of them ready to be on the show, but then getting an emergency call so when the curtain opens they are gone, had also occurred in the opening scene (making the car seat more amusing as well) as they head off to fight Super Apes. They probably cut it to save some of the team in action for the end?
  • Changing to Shalla-Bal from Norrin Radd was needed for one theme of the film to be paralleled, that a Mom might do anything to protect their child.

I really enjoyed it, good representation of the FF and their characters, I was skeptical about going to Galactus right away as the threat but it worked.
 
Casting will begin soon (for X-Men) and the field is wide open. But Marvel has indicated to reps that it is looking for younger talent, rather than A-listers, to “keep the cost down,” says another agent. Marvel is holding July 23, 2027, on the release calendar for an unnamed film, but sources say it won’t be filled by “X-Men.” Marvel declined comment for this story.

Sources say Downey Jr. has earned between $500 million and $600 million over the course of seven Marvel movies and three cameos and won’t be working at a discount on “Doomsday”; neither will Chris Hemsworth, who’s returning as Thor. As for who will be the star of the film, sources say Pascal is not the centerpiece, but does have an integral role. Regardless, the tentpole is on schedule to open Dec. 18, 2026.

Amid an industrywide pullback on superheroes, the Marvel brain trust is feeling no sense of urgency on the long-gestating “Blade” reboot or even a new “Deadpool” outing, sources say. However, ideas are percolating on a Ryan Coogler-helmed “Black Panther 3,” creating excitement internally.
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Or a young cast because the X-Men should be young and they want actors who will be thrilled to commit to 6 or 9 MCU films.

Its not like Hemsworth, Pratt, Holland or even Evans were major stars before they got their roles.
 
I mean sure it makes sense to cast students as young, but also if you're gonna have these people on screen as these characters for another decade, it makes sense to go younger anyway
 
Yep, they wrote that like Marvel is trying to be cheap and not that there could be other reasons. There's a reason they wanted to (and hope they still will) pivot to Pugh and Steinfeld and unknowns like Vellani...
 
She'd probably be a good Jean, but when I saw speculation she could be Firestar, that's all I wanted for her in BND
 
Hit me up, Marvel! I'd happily play any of the X-Men. I'm super affordable, and honestly, if you make an action figure of me, I'd probably just be happy with that! 😂

I like the idea of lesser-known actors, though. Especially if they're going for younger versions of some/all the characters, it'll help to see the character over the actor.
 
Let Sarah Halley Finn and her team at it! And LISTEN to them. It is shocking that the FF cast never did chemistry reads or even met one another until all contracts were signed - the fact those four worked is a testament to their abilities and the director's instincts, but YIKES.

Since Marvel has moved most production to the UK, is there a rule that a certain amount of leads must be British? That was a thing for productions shooting in Canada for awhile - 1/4 of the main cast or something had to be Canadian.

This quote from that article got my attention: "For superhero watchers, good is the new great, as the genre finds its footing after a cold streak that included..."

Ouch. I know a lot of y'all loved these two films, but that's exactly how I feel about FF and Superman - they are good but neither is great.
 
Finally saw FF and LOVED IT.

There have been a select, very few Marvel films that have felt more-or-less true to the specific character(s) being focused on, but this is the first film EVER that feels like it is true to the actual Marvel Comics tone that I am familiar with (pre-2000s, anyway: plenty of films have felt like the tone of “Ultimate Marvel” and similar grimdark militarized 2000s comics). Almost no insult-based quipping “humor” in it either, which is my least-favorite thing about the MCU. Almost zero focus on military shit or cops, and minimal American-exceptionalism propaganda. Very refreshing, given the content of many previous MCU films where EVERYONE is some kind of American soldier or cop or ex-soldier or ex-cop. Galactus and Silver Surfer were done balls-out with no “apologies” or half-ass “durr aren’t those comic designs so silly” humor. All the classic foes are referenced in-universe, creating a robust, lived-in world.

If the MCU had been handled like this from the start, I’d have been a HUGE fan.
 
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