'Fantastic Four' Is Tanking at the Box Office

It looks like Fox's reboot will barely break even.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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It's official: the Fantastic Four reboot is a lost cause. Although 20th Century Fox spent upwards of $120 million to make the new Fantastic Four, estimates show it struggling to make even $30 million on opening weekend — well below the $40 million of previous predictions, Variety reports. If estimates plunge even further, Fox might barely earn back its investment. 

The low numbers aren't super surprising given the film's rocky start — during production, everything that conceivably go wrong, did. Director Josh Trank was reportedly terrible, wrecking sets and showing up late, the film went into reshoots at the beginning of this year, and Fox even considered scrapping the project.

Then there was the series of awkward press moments: Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan had to deal with a racist, sexist interviewer, Miles Teller came off as sort of a dick in his Esquire profile, and yesterday a bitter Trank tweeted (and quickly deleted) that his final cut of Fantastic Four never made it out of the editing room.

Reviewers confirmed what we'd all feared: Fantastic Four is terrible. That's the literal title of Helen O'Hara'sreview for GQ UK, which includes blunt criticism such as: 

This falls prey to every fault of the modern superhero film: a failure to embrace its own silliness, an over-involved origin and a weak last act. Despite the best efforts of the cast, whatever good nugget of an idea in there just can't stretch to a whole film.

 After months of build-up and even a promising trailer or two, it looks like Fox bit off more than it could chew.

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