FANTASTIC FOUR Is Going In For Reshoots

Bleeding Cool reports that Fantastic Four will be heading back to Louisiana for some reshoots in the near future, and I can confirm that yes, this is true. But I can also confirm that these additional shooting days have been planned for well over a month, and that they don't inherently tell us anything about the quality of the film. 

I haven't seen the movie, so I don't want to jump to any conclusions about whether it's good or not - I have certainly spoken to people who have seen it who think it's quite good and I've spoken to people who have heard it's a mess - but it's also important to keep in mind that we shouldn't jump to conclusions about what these reshoots mean either. My sources tell me that the additional shooting is going to add some more action to what has shaken out to be a character-driven film. Despite some rumors to the contrary I have been told - as recently as this week - that Josh Trank remains as the director on the film and will be overseeing these additional shooting days. 

My take is that Fox, unsure what the movie is and how to market it, has shot themselves in the foot by withholding for so very long. There's a trailer coming soon, but by the time that hits every frame is going to get dissected in search of problems and mistakes. This is very much an old school origin story - they aren't really "The Fantastic Four" until the very end of the movie - and I wonder if that has left Fox confused with what to show and how to show it. 

I will say one thing: a lot of the 'it's a mess' stuff I'm hearing about Fantastic Four sounds exactly like (and is coming from some of the same people) what I heard about Rise of the Planet of the Apes a few months out. That film, without its CGI in place, seemed like an embarrassment waiting to happen, but once the FX work was complete Fox found themselves with a great film and a franchise-starter on their hands. Is that the case with Fantastic Four? I know a lot of the big impact scenes are FX heavy, and that The Thing is totally CG, so possibly. 

Here's the thing: I know a lot of people are rooting for Fantastic Four to end up back at Marvel,  but even if this film tanks I don't think that will happen. Fox has the players under contract and Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara and Jamie Bell aren't getting any less popular or famous in the next few years. Fox will drive ahead with a sequel, even if they have to course correct in a major, enormous way. In a best case scenario Fantastic Four doesn't return to Marvel until some time in the 2020s, so put away the knives.