Last month, Marvel announced its latest upcoming movie, The Fantastic Four. On February 14th, Marvel took to social media to post about the newest cast members joining the Marvel family.
However, Marvel fans have had mixed feelings towards the cast. The fans believe that the cast will not do their characters justice, leading to the movie not doing well in theaters. This movie is necessary for the fandom as the company’s sales have not been doing well lately. Marvel has seen a downfall since their Infinity Saga. Movies have been hitting differently than they once were, and fans are sketchy about what the company has in store for them.
As more projects come out in movie theaters and Disney+, it becomes more demanding for fans to keep up with the storyline. It is also becoming more difficult for the company to produce better-quality movies. Therefore, Marvel is losing the audience’s interest in its projects, and sales are plummeting. The reveal of The Fantastic Four remake is one of Marvel’s last hopes to reignite fans’ hearts again.
Cast
Just over a month ago, Marvel studios took to their social media platforms and posted a picture of the newest cast members joining in the reboot of The Fantastic Four. The cast includes Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Susan Storm, Joesph Quinn as Jonny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm or The Thing.
Marvel fans find it challenging to please those who get cast in their movies. They cherish these characters and have a specific person in mind when casting them. This led them to make fan casts for certain people, and the fandom was disappointed when their choices were not selected. Foremost, fans were not happy with Marvel in their decisions.
However, in the past, the cast has been in prominent works such as HBO Max’s The Last of Us and Netflix’s Stranger Things. Both are very popular and have successfully attracted more viewers for each show. These roles have gained them more popularity and fame, which is why they were chosen. It is safe to say that they can act. It is a matter of whether they can act out these comic characters as they were written.
Previous Fantastic Four movies
Marvel had two other Fantastic Four films that, to some degree, did well. The first film was in 2005, bringing in $333.5 million at the box office. It did so well that it got a second one in 2007, bringing in $301.9 million; however, there was not a third one because of the dissatisfaction 20th Century Fox felt with the second film. Considering it did not make as much as the first one, they decided to scrap the last installment of the series.
Ten years after the first film, 20th Century Fox decided to reboot the series again. With new cast members who expected to do well at the box office, Fox again was disappointed with the film’s outcome. With only making $167.9 million at the box office. It was a complete letdown from the other two films, to which Fox again had to scrap the movie.
With three movies being made by 20th Century Fox, Disney eventually took the right to own the Fantastic Four franchise. That said, Disney decided to reboot it again, so the fans got their sneak peek at one character in 2022 with Doctor Strange’s Multiverse of Madness. In that movie, the audience saw Reed Richards or Mr. Fantastic, played by John Krasinski.
Fans were thrilled to see his character on screen, especially since he had not been in a Marvel film since 2015. Krasinski was also a plus for fans because they enjoyed his take on the character. The audience felt he did a good job portraying him. However, the fandom heard more about his character in February 2024. Then Marvel announced the actual members of the new movie coming out in 2025.
Seeing the Marvel family already brought to life with the previous movies, with the addition of Krasinski, fans are worried about how the new actors will translate their characters on the screen. They already have a good idea of how these characters are and would like that not to be messed up.
Marvel’s downhill lately
Recently, Marvel’s films have not been successful at the box office. The Infinity Saga brought Marvel a ton of money, considering it was their starting point for the series. The saga overall made $20 billion at the box office worldwide, averaging $935 million for each film. As of last year, they only have profited $8.1 billion, far less than they have made on average. However, keep in mind the saga is not over yet. They are in the Multiverse Saga, which has made $722 million on average.
The last well-profited Marvel movie came from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which made $845.6 million at the worldwide box office. This was their last true success at the box office. The film satisfied their fandom, which they had wanted from Marvel. With their latest two works, Madame Web and The Marvels, the company’s success is on a lifeline now. The last two movies did not do well at the box office, with The Marvels only making $206.1 million and Madame Web producing $80 million.
The fandom needs a crucial win for all of Marvel’s upcoming movies. None have been quite as successful since Infinity War and Endgame. People fear Marvel is looking at a dead end when it comes to its films. The series’ height looks dead right now due to many fans not engaging with the movies anymore.
More to Marvel’s unlucky success
With Marvel’s unfortunate success lately at the box office, a problem might be that it has released too many projects, and people need help keeping up. Nonetheless, Marvel desires quantity over quality. With the addition of Marvel, TV shows being released on Disney+. These shows have allowed the company more time to develop other characters who need background information. These characters are essential to the main story and do have time to fit them into a complete film.
Characters like Kamala Khan or Ms. Marvel, fans need to understand how she got her powers. Furthermore, her story is so crucial that Marvel cannot produce a whole movie for her, so they do a TV series for her. Other times, characters like Loki or Wanda have shows so people can see a continuation of what has happened to them after the Infinity Saga. The company and fans get to keep a good balance of what they see with characters without needing to watch a movie.
Having shows on Disney+ has made it much easier for fans to get more content on old characters and add new characters to the main storyline. This makes adding new characters to the big screen easier without making the movie longer. They do not have to dedicate an entire film to explain how they started becoming heroes. Making a TV series is far easier to fill in the gaps.
Quantity over Quality
Furthermore, Marvel is releasing too much content, including movies, and fans need help keeping up with the stories. Many fans lose interest if they have to watch eight episodes to understand the storyline.
Fans also seem to prefer less content over the quality of the movies. This is a big issue for them. The audience notices the poor effort Marvel is making with CGI in its films and shows. They seem not to look as good as they did before because of how much of a rush they are putting out these projects in such a short amount of time. Overall, audiences see Marvel’s work needs to be improved, making it disinteresting.
Importance of the Upcoming film
Marvel must do well with this film because it is very dependent on Marvel’s overall success in keeping fans interested. With the cast already being announced and fans being dissatisfied, it is hard to say whether fans will be intrigued to see the movie.
DC is also releasing a movie on the same day as the Marvel film. They plan on rebooting one of its most famous characters, Superman. Their movie is set to release the same day as The Fantastic Four film, putting Marvel in competition with its biggest competitor. This already sets Marvel off as fans have to decide which film to see first. This may lead fans to see Superman before Fantastic Four because of Superman’s iconic legacy.
Fantastic Four is one of Marvel’s most essential and beloved storylines. Fans would like to see the movie do justice to it. Currently, fans do not have any more information on the movie besides the cast and the film’s set release date. It is up to the trailer and Marvel to make the film successful and bring back the Marvel fandom they once had.
Belen Luna
March 18, 2024 at 10:30 pm
I think they need to keep it basic when it comes to making thisbmovie again. Good old action movie. I don’t want to see a movie where they pack all this useless information or put so much of it that I’m lost. I also agree with the writer that Marvel is making too many super hero shows/movies.
Belen Luna
March 18, 2024 at 10:31 pm
I think they need to keep it basic when it comes to making this movie again. Good old action movie. I don’t want to see a movie where they pack all this useless information or put so much of it that I’m lost. I also agree with the writer that Marvel is making too many super hero shows/movies.