20th Century Fox's "Fantastic Four" reboot was marred by a troubled production and met with an abysmal critical and financial reception. The film currently has a 9 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 27 percent on Metacritic and has earned a paltry $160 million worldwide against a reported budget of $120 million (not including marketing). One would think that type of underperformance would negate any ideas of a sequel. One would be wrong.
Writer and producer Simon Kinberg told MTV News that Fox is moving ahead with its planned 2017 sequel.
"I'm really focused on the next one," Kinberg said. "I do believe there is a great 'Fantastic Four' movie that we've made with that cast. So I'm gonna figure out what that is. We're figuring out what that movie would be. I'd like that to happen."
Kinberg's quote doesn't exactly confirm a sequel, but it does reveal that Fox hasn't completely given up on the Fantastic Four property. The overwhelming negative response was duly noted by Kinberg but not taken as a deterrent.
"I was obviously disappointed," he said of the backlash. "I was most disappointed that fans didn't like it. I care more about them than I do anyone else. But I haven't done a full deep dive on it. Do I think it was unfairly treated? I don't know.
"I've been on plenty of happy movies that don't turn out to be very good movies, I've been on a lot of unhappy, difficult sets that turn out to be great movies. There was a lot of attention on the process of making that movie. It's hard, when you're making a movie, movies are hard to make. It's just the reality."
Fox's long-term plan has been to eventually cross over the Fantastic Four characters with their popular "X-Men" universe. Perhaps instead of a direct sequel, the studio will explore that route in the near future.
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