Here’s the deal on these comic book movies: if the fanboys smell a stinker, you’re dead. “The Fantastic Four” made just $26.2 million over three days, probably a little less. It’s a bust. The fanboys knew it in advance. See the way they’ve tried to distance Marvel, their never-do-wrong glowing orb, from infidel Fox. Yes, Fox owns the rights to the Fantastic Four characters. But Marvel didn’t disown the new movie, Stan Lee put his name on it. It’s their loss, too.
So now what? I don’t think we’ll be seeing the “Fantastic Four” again any time soon. And if we ever do, my guess is that Fox will cut a deal with Marvel the way Sony has concerning Spider Man. At Fox, the X Men series was lucky to find a filmmaker who really got it and stuck with it in Bryan Singer. That’s what you need for these things to work.
Coincidentally, both Sony and Fox are having terrible years. “FF4” is Fox’s latest wound. So far, 15 movies that earned money for Fox in 2015 have made a total of $687,933,683. That’s approximately what Universal’s “Jurassic World” has made world wide.
Fox has released 9 new movies in 2015. Three of them went over $100 million. “Home,” an animated film that won’t win the Oscar thanks to Pixar’s “Inside Out,” made $176,819,973. Matthew Vaughn’s very good “Kingsmen” made a very tidy $128 million. Melissa McCarthy’s comedy “Spy” came in at $108 million, which is pretty damn good.
Every studio has its dog days. Fox will rise again with Stacey Snider running the show now. I’m banking on Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” with Matt Damon to turn things around.
Meanwhile, “Trainwreck” crossed $90 million this week, on its way to $100 mil. For a comedy, this is nirvana. And “Mission Impossible” is slowing down but still, $265 million worldwide isn’t bad after just 11 days.
