As happens every year, Comic-Con has its winners and losers. Some projects come out of the convention revitalized, while others face a far more complicated landscape. That last feeling is what prevailed after seeing the new Fantastic Four material. Less than a month remains before its general release, and even with the presentation of the second trailer, there are many fans who are not convinced…
The cinematic competition is reaching very high levels. It definitely wouldn't be unreasonable to change Comic-Con's name to “Movie-Con”, considering all the adaptations that will be looking to shine at the box office. Most likely, several will bite the dust, especially considering how harsh fans can be when judging a project before its launch. Of course, there's always room for surprises. Nobody gave two cents for Heath Ledger as the Joker, and look at what he caused afterward. Another aspect to evaluate is continuity. Now that the idea is to bring entire universes to cinema, DC shows a bit more cohesion for logical reasons. Batman and Superman are the two spearheads that open the way for the rest of the characters; however, the same does not happen in Marvel's case. Fragmentation is making itself felt, and the negotiations around Spider-Man are clear proof of that. The big question is what will happen to the rest of the franchises.
In the case of Fantastic Four, we will know very soon. Honesty first: there is a lot of noise around the movie, and not necessarily the good kind. First of all, its 3D version was canceled. The rumor mill points to Josh Trank's reboot going way over budget (122 million and counting), causing Fox to give the conversion the thumbs down. And second, we can't shake the feeling that it has been left very displaced compared to the rest of the projects. A trained eye will spot several details in this new trailer, such as the green tint in several scenes (before it was all lava). And the dialogue... better not go there.
I hope I'm wrong about Fantastic Four, but so far it's shaping up to be the weakest offer in what will be a brutal lineup. No one in their right mind would dare compete with Star Wars in December, so there is a possibility with its August release, since its only direct rival will be Hitman: Agent 47. IMDB places the premiere of Fantastic Four on August 21 in Spain, while Latin America will have access to the movie during the first week of next month.
