Fantastic Four (2015)

Film Type:

Feature

Language:

English

Colour Info:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital

Camera:

ARRI ALEXA XT

Frame Rate:

24 fps

Aspect Ratio:

2.35:1

Stereoscopy:

No

Archival Source:

QubeVault

Taglines:

When you change the world, prepare to defend it.
Beyond darkness... beyond fear... lies the fantastic.
Change is coming.

Movie Connection(s):

Dubbed into: Fantastic Four (Hindi)
Followed by: The Fantastic Four 2 (English)

Filming Locations:

Goofs:

Miscellaneous
The opening scene with the characters as kids is set in 2007, and involves Reed using a "black and green" monochrome computer screen and Nintendo 64 game consoles. Even in 2007, this technology was outdated.

Character Error
Johnny and Sue Storm are siblings in the comics, however the casting of two actors of different ethnicity in their roles does not show that.

Continuity
In the finale battle with Victor, Sue attempts to quell Victors' portal using her force-fields, Victor then asks: "Where are you Susan?" uses a wave of rubble to find the invisible Sue.

Continuity
Victor is never made aware to the others' powers, he may have glimpsed Sue using a force-field to carry Ben and Reed safely through the portal, but he was never made aware to Sue's invisibility powers.

Continuity
When Reed is looking through the Baxter complex's library several shots of him looking through the books show his scars on the wrong side of his face. This shows the footage has been flopped.

Continuity
Sue's hairstyle and color changes during the movie, revealing that those scenes were later re-shoots in which she wore a wig.

Continuity
When Reed and Ben are younger, Reed is tightening the screw on his "teleportation device" using a flat head tool, on a flat head screw. Ben then hands Reed a multi-tool with a pozi screwdriver attachment, when it cuts back to the screw it has changed to a pozi screw.

Miscellaneous
Doom's portal manages to rip away trees and dirt, as well as cars, and they come through to the planet in the alternate dimension. However, no people come through at all.

Trivia:

In post-production the character of Harvey Elder (Tim Blake Nelson) was renamed Dr. Allen, since the filmmakers felt he had nothing to do with his version from the comics.

The hospital featured in the movie is called "Judith Trank Memorial". This is the name of director Josh Trank's step-mother.

"Central City" is a reference to the team's locale in Marvel's Fantastic Four #1, but it's is more widely known as the home of DC Comics' The Flash.

Miles Teller (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic) and Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm/The Human Torch) previously starred together in That Awkward Moment (2014).

One rumor reports that the film's producer Matthew Vaughn directed some re-shots of the film, but the studio denied those reports.

During production, Josh Trank had several small dogs, who were left in a rented house in New Orleans while the film was shooting there. The dogs caused as much as $100,000 damage to the property.

At one point, Samira Wiley was considered for the role of Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman.

When asked about his opinion on the Human Torch being black, Stan Lee said he very much approved.

Josh Trank envisioned his film as being between 2 hours and 20 minutes long; the studio cut that down significantly to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

After the accident when Reed Richards hides in Panama, you can see a "Mate" on his desk. This isn't a common beverage in the country, on the contrary, is widely consumed in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

20th Century Fox really got involved with the film, to the point in which Josh Trank's original movie layout was changed drastically. One of the most major changes was the cutting out of 3 whole action scenes.

The official Marvel Comics website does not mention this movie at all.

The movie started development in 2009, but did not go anywhere until Josh Trank signed on in 2012.

In Tim Story's "Fantastic Four" series, Alicia Masters was African-American. In this film, it is Johnny Storm and his father who are African-American (not Susan Storm, who is an adopted child).

Reg E. Cathey (Franklin Storm) had previously starred with Kate Mara (Susan Storm) on the Netflix series House of Cards (2013) and with Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm) on the HBO series The Wire (2002).

Christian Cooke auditioned for the role of Ben Grimm/The Thing before Jamie Bell was cast.

This film reunites actor Michael B. Jordan and director Josh Trank, who both worked together previously on Chronicle (2012).

This film's current release date of August 7th, 2015 was previously held by Ubisoft's upcoming film Assassin's Creed (2016), which has since been given a December 2016 release date.

The bad performance of this film is reportedly what got Miles Teller dropped from LA LA Land.

Doombots were originally going to appear in the movie, although this was eventually cut from the film.

Susan Storm refers to Victor Domashev as "Doctor Doom" early in the movie due to his negative attitude. Doctor Doom's actual name in the comics was Victor von Doom.

Julian McMahon, who played Victor Von Doom in the 2005 film, which this film is a reboot of, starred in the TV series Nip/Tuck (2003) as plastic surgeon Christian Troy. Kate Mara (Susan Storm) had a recurring guest role in the first season of Nip/Tuck as Vanessa Bartholomew, Matt McNamara's girlfriend.

Shown in IMAX 3D in selected cities.

At first the Fantastic Four movie reboot was going to be set in the same universe as Fox's X-Men movies. Then next year, this conceptual cinematic universe was shot dead by Fox's admission.

Originally, Marvel Studios offered to give Fox an extension on rebooting Daredevil in exchange for the Fantastic Four film rights, along with characters associated with the brand that would expand their cosmic universe (Galactus, Silver Surfer, Uatu the Watcher, Annihilus, the Skrulls, and the Badoon, among others) - or at the least, just the cosmic characters. Fox refused to take up their offer, and they subsequently lost the rights to Daredevil - even though there are currently no plans at Fox to use any of the aforementioned cosmic characters.

The movie was screened for critics a mere two days before it was released in the United States. However, the movie was intended to be premiered in several regions before then - which did not have screenings for critics either. And then the international premieres were delayed until after the United States premiere, which essentially means that the movie was only screened for critics at the eleventh hour, at which point it might as well not have been screened for them at all. The online embargo lasted until two days before the release date and the print embargo lasted until the release date.

The movie originally had the odds stacked against it by being wedged between three major blockbusters - it would have competed with Jurassic World (2015), which was slated to be released in the previous weekend, Inside Out (2015), which would be released the same weekend, and Ted 2 (2015), which was going to come out in the following weekend. Fox noticed this problem and pushed the release date back by two months, making it compete with Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015). Unfortunately, the move didn't help the movie at all once the bad word-of-mouth came around, and it ended up lagging behind Rogue Nation on its opening weekend.

Josh Trank lost the dressing room because he was combative and abusive toward the cast, producers, and crew, at one point almost getting into a fistfight with Miles Teller.

There is no post, mid or end credit scene in the cinema standard release.

Victor's last name was originally going to be "Domashev", and he was envisioned as a blogger with programming skills. His surname was kept the same, and any mention of him blogging is removed from the final film.

The 3-D conversion of the film, which was touted as being impressive by Simon Kinberg, was cancelled to fund reshoots. It was even edited out of the initial poster that advertised that the movie would be shown in 3-D in the first place, although the line "in premium large format theatres" still appears.

A sequence showing Ben Grimm's performing a "divebomb" in the film was cut due to budget constraints. This appears in the trailer.

While never explicitly stated, the timeline given in the film would put Reed and Ben at around seventeen or eighteen when Reed is recruited to the Baxter program. Miles Teller and Jamie Bell being about ten years older than that at the time of filming.

Adrien Brody and Jonathan Rhys Meyers were considered for the role of Reed Richards.

The marketing campaign made no attempt to hide the fact that Josh Trank likes Johnny Storm, who was advertised much more than the other characters.

Josh Trank has said that the film is heavily influenced by David Cronenberg, that Scanners (1981) and The Fly (1986) influenced the look of the film, and that its overall tone would feel like Steven Spielberg meets Tim Burton.

In 2009, Akiva Goldsman was attached as producer and Michael Green was hired to write the screenplay

Tim Blake Nelson was originally playing Harvey Elder (the person who becomes Mole Man), but his role was later modified into establishing his character as an original. Said character died later.

The film was planned to be shot in Vancouver, but was moved to Louisiana due to the state's film production tax incentives.

The origin of the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom (a lab experiment involving a portal to another dimension goes wrong, and all five get mutated by radiation from the experiment) is based on their "Ultimate Marvel" origin.

Doctor Doom in this film is based on his Ultimate Marvel version (a computer programmer who acquires metal skin), and incorporates elements from the Ultimate Marvel version of Annihilus (a being with metallic skin and green eyes) Molecule Man (a near-powerful but unstable character), and Ego the Living Planet (a being that consumes worlds).

There is no end-credit-scene in this movie or a cameo of Stan Lee.

When Dr Franklin visits Viktor to recruit him for the project a flag of the fictional country of Latveria can be seen on the wall directly behind Viktor's desk. Latveria is the home country of Dr Doom in most comic incarnations.

The Thing is forcibly made to work for the military. In the comics, Ben Grimm was in the US Marines.

Reed, Ben, Johnny and Victor hijack the quantum gate to be the first humans across. In the original 1960s comics, the Reed, Ben, Johnny and Sue hijacked a rocket to become the first humans in space.

In a quickly deleted tweet from 6th August, 2015, Josh Trank said "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You'll probably never see it That's reality though." After seeing this version, the studio mandated heavy re-shoots. The newer scenes are easy to spot as Kate Mara had cut her hair and wore a blonde wig.

Marvel wasn't fond of the direction the film was going, and made mention of it in a Marvel Comic: "The Punisher" #14 has the Four (in the likeness of the cast members of this film) get taken down in an explosion.

After the disappointing reviews, Josh Trank went on to tweet that "He'll never be working on a comic book movie again".

The characters in this film would have reverted back to Marvel, if the film was delayed past 2015. (Fox only having a 7 year window to produce a new Fantastic Four film, with a release of 1 year after that time expires.)

Re-shoots were ordered by the studio in January 2015.

Kate Mara had initially wanted to read Fantastic Four comic books to prepare for her role as Susan Storm, but the filmmakers explained to cast that it was unnecessary as the film was an original story not based directly on the comics.

Michael B. Jordan ran into Chris Evans, who initially played Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four (2005) and its sequel, at an industry event. According to Jordan, they ended up talking about the role and Evans told him, "Man, I can't give you anything. You're great, you're awesome. Just do your thing. And enjoy it. It's gonna be fun."

The garage that Reed is working in as a child is the same garage that Biff keeps his car in Back to the Future Part II (1989).

When Susan is tracking a signal, there is an IP address on a screen: "23.21.190.125". This will lead to online articles for Latveria, Dr. Doom's homeland.

In the scene where Franklin Storm talks to Victor Domashev as he's sat behind his computers, an insignia for his fictional homeland, Latveria, can be seen.

After director Josh Trank finalized his version of the film in 2014, the studio, seemingly dissatisfied with the director's work, demanded re-shoots, which were done in early 2015.

Jamie Bell consulted his The Adventures of Tintin (2011) co-star and motion capture artist Andy Serkis for assistance on his role as The Thing.

Saoirse Ronan, Allison Williams, Emmy Rossum and Margot Robbie auditioned for the role of Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman before Kate Mara was cast.

Kit Harington, Anton Yelchin, Richard Madden and Jack O'Connell auditioned for the role of Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic before Miles Teller was cast.

The decoration hanging on the mirror in Johnny Storm's car during the race is a Fire Flower from Nintendo's Mario Brothers series. When Mario uses the flower he gains the ability to throw fireballs, much like Johnny Storm when he becomes the Human Torch.

Terry Crews had publicly expressed interest in playing Ben Grimm.

A teacher jokes about young Reed building a flying car. In the comics and, according to set photos, an earlier draft of this movie, Reed Richards constructed the Fantasticar, a flying car that served as the Fantastic Four's personal vehicle.

The uniforms the Fantastic Four wear are based on containment suits.

The white uniforms the team wears on their trip to the Negative Zone are based on the Fantastic Four's "Future Foundation" uniforms.

Domashev speculates that the military may use the other dimension as a prison for criminals. This is what Reed did with the Negative Zone in the Marvel comic "Civil War" (being adapted into Captain America: Civil War (2016) but without the Fantastic Four).

Eddie Redmayne, Jack Huston, Domhnall Gleeson and Sam Riley were considered to play Dr. Doom before Toby Kebbell was cast.

The music in the trailer is also the theme tune to Broadchurch (2013).

Kate Mara had previously appeared in an episode of Robot Chicken (2005) as the Invisible Woman.

For the first time, the Thing will be created in computer-generated imagery rather than through prosthetics and make-up.

The filmmakers cite Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007), David Cronenberg's sci-films The Fly (1986), and Scanners (1981) and Josh Trank's Chronicle (2012) as influence on the film.

This is the second Marvel film for both Tim Blake Nelson and Kate Mara, who had both appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series: Nelson had appeared in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Mara had appeared in Iron Man 2 (2010).

Writer Simon Kinberg described the story as "a celebration of all the Fantastic Four comics, the notion of this dysfunctional surrogate family of scientists that come together and this idea that it's almost more like a science adventure than a superhero film."

During production of the film, director Josh Trank displayed "erratic" and "very isolated" behavior on set. This lead to clashes between Trank and producers over the direction of the film, since Trank didn't offer a clear one.

Kiefer Sutherland and Bruce Willis were both considered for the role of Ben Grimm / The Thing.

Michael B. Jordan was Josh Trank's first choice to play Johnny Storm.

Michael B. Jordan described the story as "a bunch of kids that had an accident and have disabilities now that they have to cope with, and try to find a life afterwards."

Josh Trank made the Storm family of mixed ethnicities to represent his view of 21st century families: "I have a mixed family. When I go home for Christmas, you'll see white people and black people; that's normal to me."

The first time in a live action Fantastic Four movie in which The Thing is not wearing pants or boots.

The powers that the Fantastic Four receive mirror the four elements in classic ancient thought: Fire (Johnny Storm), water (Reed Richards), air (Sue Storm) and earth/rock (Ben Grimm).

There is no after credits end scene, just a note that the making of the film involved 15,000 jobs.

Miles Teller is the first American actor to portray Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic; his predecessors, Alex Hyde-White and Ioan Gruffudd, were British. In contrast, Jamie Bell is the first British actor to play Ben Grimm/The Thing; his predecessors, Michael Bailey Smith and Michael Chiklis, were American.

Released a decade after Fantastic Four (2005), of which this film is a reboot.

The film was planned to be released in 3D, but it was canceled 4 weeks before its release date.

This is the third time Michael B. Jordan has portrayed a superhero, after voicing Cyborg in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013) and portraying a superpowered kid in Chronicle

According to Toby Kebbell, the hardest part about playing Dr. Doom was getting his voice right.

Each of the three male members of the Four have portrayed a boxer: Jamie Bell in Billy Elliot (2000), Michael B. Jordan in Creed (2015) and Miles Teller Bleed for This (2015).

Toby Kebbell was the studio's first choice for the role of Dr. Doom.

Sasha Pieterse auditioned for the role of Susan Storm but was considered too young for the part.

In the scene where the character of Victor Von Doom first appears, he is sitting behind a desk with many computer monitors, one of the monitors shows game play footage from Ubisoft's upcoming game Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (2015).

This film marks Kate Mara's second time playing a member of a team of superheroes, the first being in Zoom (2006).

This film was made so Fox could keep the film rights for the Fantasic Four. Fox waited the full 7 years they had, before going into production. Any longer, and Fox would have lost the film rights.

The film's portrayal of Harvey Elder (Mole Man) is based on the Marvel "Ultimate" character (a scientist and contemporary of Dr Franklin Storm) and Marvel "Ultimate" Willie Lumpkin (a government agent who handles the team).