FANTASTIC FOUR Fails in the Box Office But Fox Says Doom isn't Coming as They Stay Committed to the Franchise



The opening weekend box office numbers are in for Fox's reboot of FANTASTIC FOUR and it struggled to meet expectations especially when comparing the previous two films in the franchise opened to over $55 million each.

The reboot failed to open No. 1 in the box office by pulling in a paltry $26 million in the U.S. and just $34 million Internationally for a worldwide opening weekend of $60 million. This is on a reported production budget of $120 million which usually doubles when adding marketing costs. So Fox needs FANTASTIC FOUR to hit approximately $220-$240 million worldwide to break even. What should seem like an easy task for any super hero movie in today's film industry, where heroes are the main draw of the business, now seems like a very tough task ahead.

However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox is still committed to Marvel's first family.

"While we're disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe," Fox's domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson said.

This comment should not surprise because Fox isn't going to throw in the towel so soon. There is time for the reboot to try and salvage as much of itself in the coming weeks since the box office starts to fall off from big movie releases as the summer season comes to a close. 

There is also a chance Fox could still consider another FANTASTIC FOUR movie as a crossover with their X-MEN franchise to give it a popularity bump. Then again there's already been rumors that Fox could move FANTASTIC FOUR aside to focus on DEADPOOL or one of their other mutant films currently in development like X-FORCE or NEW MUTANTS and let the franchise rights for FF revert back to Marvel Studios. Another new theory is that Fox could trade FF rights back to Marvel in order to get a green light to begin development on an X-MEN live action television series. 

There are plenty of rumors, theories and speculation right now which makes sense because FANTASTIC FOUR did not perform as Fox hoped it would. There's definitely some talk behind closed doors happening between Fox executives as to what their next move is with this Marvel franchise. There are several paths to take right now and there is no reason for Fox to make a final decision so soon but it will be interesting to hear what the future holds for FANTASTIC FOUR.