Too bad the original script and story for the reboot of FANTASTIC FOUR was so insanely expensive sounding because it sounds way better of a movie.
Now just over a year later, and in retrospect, maybe Fox should have spent more money (as well as found a different director) because the story that original screenwriter Jeremy Slater disclosed to ScreenCrush sounds like a much more deserving movie to produce for fans of Marvel's First Family.
Here's the bullet points of what Slater said were a part of his original script for the FANTASTIC FOUR reboot:
- He wrote 10-15 drafts of the script during a six month period.
- Only one line of his original dialogue made it into the final cut of the film while also confirming more writers came in for rewrite after rewrite.
- Slater's script was brighter than the movie released in theaters and had more inspiration from the comic book world while director Josh Trank was the reason the film became much darker in tone.
- The movie opened with Reed Richards and Ben Grimm as kids followed by Reed being accepted to the Baxter Foundation; kind of a school for nerds similar to Professor Xavier's school for mutants where young science prodigies can create any idea imaginable.
- At the Baxter Foundation is where Reed first meets Victor (von Doom), who's influence on Reed damages his relationship with Ben.
- The portal device was still the central player in granting everyone their powers but when the kids went on their journey to the Negative Zone, called Planet Zero in the movie, they meet and fight the comic book villain Annihilus.
- Annihilus was described to be sort of a mechanical T-Rex alien creature who is killed by Victor. When Victor returns from the Negative Zone he's become one with his "Control Rod" suit and is more Doom than Victor.
- Most of this, minus the Annihilus parts, are similar as in the movie but with a much different, lighter tone and structure in the original story from Slater's script.
- Slater also said he holds no grudges because after he worked on his many versions of the script he had no contact with Trank or the studio as other writers were brought in.
Also, Slater said the following:
"In addition to Annihilus and the Negative Zone, we had Doctor Doom declaring war against the civilized world, the Mole Man unleashing a 60 foot genetically-engineered monster in downtown Manhattan, a commando raid on the Baxter Foundation, a Saving Private Ryan-style finale pitting our heroes against an army of Doombots in war-torn Latveria, and a post-credit teaser featuring Galactus and the Silver Surfer destroying an entire planet. We had monsters and aliens and Fantasticars and a cute spherical H.E.R.B.I.E. robot that was basically BB-8 two years before BB-8 ever existed. And if you think all of that sounds great...well, yeah, we did, too. The problem was, it would have also been massively, MASSIVELY expensive."
What's done is done but it's still interesting to hear what could have been. Obviously, Fox was up against their franchise licensing deal deadline with Marvel and had to put out a movie to retain the rights and so they didn't revert back. Unfortunately, especially for the fans, this is not how to make movies and will forever be an example of how not to make a movie because you want to keep its rights.
And once again it has to be said... after this debacle of a reboot attempt, which is one of the worst in the cinema franchise era, it's best for Fox to just let go of all the Fantastic Four rights to Marvel Studios. At this point nobody wants to see Fox try another reboot or, God forbid, make a sequel to their flop.
Related Posts:
Any FANTASTIC FOUR Movie Talk is About Maintaining Franchise Value it Still Has Left
Fox is Still Holding Onto the Idea of Making Another FANTASTIC FOUR Movie
Villains Are the Reason Marvel Needs to Get FANTASTIC FOUR Movie Rights Back From Fox
Director Peyton Reed Believes "There's a Great FANTASTIC FOUR Movie to be Had"