Fox is having a strange time right now with two of their upcoming superhero movies: Fantastic Four is getting the shit beaten out of it with bad buzz, whilst on the other hand Deadpool is doing a happy dance right now with all the positive buzz it’s getting. And whilst I can’t comment on if that’s to do with the quality of those films, as I have yet to see them, I can say that a lot of that also has to do with the marketing for each film. Fantastic Four is the awkward child Fox seems to be embarrassed of, and Deadpool seems like the popular child that they are quite proud of, and that’s not a good thing.
When a studio has a big movie coming out, one like Fantastic Four that has a budget of $122 million, you expect them to be pushing it out to the public like crazy. And sure they dropped a couple of trailers over the last few months, but apart from that there hasn’t been much. Now I’m not expecting Fantastic Four to have the same marketing push that a movie like Batman v Superman would get, which already has started a lot of marketing 8 months before release, but do a little bit more, at least more than you’re doing right now.
Because even if the movie is crap (which reviews suggest it might be, but let us judge a movie by ourselves) at least fake it. This is your baby, act like you’re proud. Don’t throw your property out into the wild to fend for itself. From the lack of promo by the actors, controversy with the director and embargoed reviews until hours before the official release, Fox seems like they are ashamed by this movie.
And it’s sad. It now seems like a desperate movie that was made without very little care and thought, purely made to prevent the rights from reverting back to Marvel. And perhaps that’s not the case, perhaps a lot of hard work, love and dedication was put into the film, and was made into something people were proud of and that the public will enjoy, but I am not getting a sense of that, at all.
Now let’s take a look at Deadpool. Deadpool has been absolutely killing it with its marketing. All the way back to the test footage leaking, to the announcement of the R-rating by killing Slater and now to the hilarious trailer for the trailer, and the actual trailer. Fox seems like they’re proud of Deadpool, and are embracing it. They even let Deadpool make fun of the studio in the trailer announcement trailer. Ryan Reynolds is doing a great job promoting the film and genuinely seems to love and care for this movie.
They get what Deadpool is, and aren’t embarrassed by it, and are embracing it. The trailer was violent, fun and aware of its silly, meta nature. Sure the first time Fox tried to put Deadpool to the big screen in Wolverine Origins they did seem ashamed by the character and tried to make him something he wasn’t, but they learnt their lesson. But apparently that lesson didn’t apply to Fantastic Four?
Especially since people have been shitting on Fantastic Four since its announcement, you would think the studio would try a little harder to block out the negative buzz, but they haven’t done much except add to it.
I expect Deadpool to do fairly well at the box office, enough to make the studio happy. Fantastic Four on the other hand? I’m not so sure. A sequel was already announced for Fantastic Four, which was one of the few things the studio did to instill confidence, however whether that actually happens or not depends on how well the film does at the box office.
Categories: comic book movies
Girl-On-Comic-Book-World 
I just watched the Honest Trailers for Fantastic Four, and both you and them make valid points about Fox handling FF. They do very little effort in promoting or even making the any of the films (like you said who knows what the reboot will be likE but judging from the promotion efforts not likely good), the fact the comic was canned as a middle finger from Marvel to Fox, and that Fox keeps holding onto it despite not being successful with it unlike their handling of X-Men (depending on which film). I see only 2 guarantees how this can carry on beyond the upcoming movie: the announced sequel (despite the movie not being out yet and questionable how there can there be a guarantee of sequel despite doubts) and that this movie will involve interdimensional travel, because if this movie doesn’t do so good but Fox STILL wants to utilize it, they could make a deal with Marvel like Sony did and have FF cross over into MCU and say FF came in from another universe or something.
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Yeah Fox aren’t handling FF well at all, yet they are determined to keep the rights. Fox will never make an agreement with Marvel that I know for sure. If anything they should start some crossovers between Fantastic Four and X-Men, at least the X-Men franchise is successful so they could help elevate the FF franchise
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This is tough for fox. Certain characters or properties are not really made for big screen adaptations. Im starting to feel that’s the case with fantastic four. I enjoyed the first film with Jessica alba and chris evans, but even that was crapped on by rotten tomatoes. The second one was trash.
I feel the same way about superman. Yes people love the donner films, but if we’re being honest, those films are unwatchable now and dont compare to todays movies. Wonder woman probably won’t be memorable either. Deadpool is a character you can absolutely make work. He’s a guy with weapons and has a few loose screws. Fits right into our current society. And he doesn’t have to be some ideal to inspire to or beacon, he’s just a dude.
Studio heads aren’t stupid. They know which character work and which ones don’t. Fox HAD to produce another fantastic four film to keep the rights. Just like wb has to trot out superman and wonder woman to get to a justice league movie, there’s no way around it.
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The problem is that Fox seems to thing that The Fantastic Four are Superheroes. They are not. They are explorers who happen to encounter danger when they go on adventures. And if this were true and the FF are not made for the big screen, why not allowing the rights to revert back to Marvel or sell them back to a reasonable prize? Most likely because they are terrified that Marvel takes the property and shows them how it is done.
In any case, even if the movie you made is bad, don’t act like it is. Pretend that it is the greatest thing ever even if you know that it is a big fat lie.
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You make a great point about the fantastic four being a group of explorers. Stan Lee created them as an answer to the justice league in 1961. However, I believe that he took inspiration from a dc team called “challengers of the unknown” which were, a group of explorers. So yeah, very good observation.
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I guess Fox needs to find a middle ground between the super campy Fantastic Four movies they made earlier, and the serious one they apparently made now. But yeah I agree, I feel like this is a property that might not have the right fit for a film audience. I have to wait until I actually watch the movie though, because some people who have watched it seemed to have enjoyed it
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My kids are demanding to go see the new FF movie when it is released this week, so I guess I’ll be attending, but my heart really isn’t in it. For whatever reason, I’m just not very excited about this version of the FF. Not that the old Alba/Evans FF were ever my favorites, but they did have some funny moments and decent action sequences.
As for Deadpool, I gotta admit that I’ve never been a big fan of the character. That doesn’t mean I haven’t found the trailer entertaining and some of the other publicity stuff cool, but I’m rather meh about the whole thing. Hopefully, I’ll get more upbeat about it.
I’m not even going to start with the Man of Steel and DC. That conversation would take WAY too long and be filled with far too much bitching on my part.
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Well at least the marketing for Fantastic Four has worked on some people! haha, but yeah they haven’t some a good job selling the property well. Deadpool seems like one of those characters you either love or hate, guess we’ll have to wait and see until we get to see those movies.
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Everything about the way Fox is handling the new Fantastic Four movie suggests they don’t know what to do with the franchise. Whether the movie is good or not, that’s the worst thing you could possibly do to promote it. It might even be more damaging than mild or negative reception.
Deadpool on the other hand, you can tell they’re embracing the merc with a mouth, just like the Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing with their heroes. I’m not convinced that it will be good, but it looks like Deadpool will at least be entertaining. I like Deadpool and I hope it will be good.
I might not personally like the direction DC’s going with their movies, but they’re also giving off the impression that they’re confident in their movies. They clearly have a direction for their cinematic universe and I at least have to give them points for that. Also, Suicide Squad looks kind of fun.
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Yeah like regardless of what the end quality are of Deadpool and the DC films, they’ve been doing a great job promoting them, and seem confident in those properties. Fox are trying their best to distance themselves from the previous Fantastic Four movies I can tell, but they still aren’t doing a good job setting up the new world of Fantastic Four
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For the integrity of the Marvel brand…..A deal should be made as was the case with Spider man allowing Marvel Studios to take over the live action movie franchises on all of the characters. Every movie made outside of Marvel Studios has been crap including the over rated non true to the comic characters X-men franchise. Their version of many characters to name a few…Deadpool from Wolverine Origins, Silver Samurai, the Juggernaut, and 90 year old looking Magneto were way off. Most of all we need to see the blood thirsty acrobatic martial artist 5’1″ Wolverine from the Uncanny X-men comics and Wolverine mini series from the 80s written by Chris Claremont. Not anything against Jackman as an actor but he has never given us that savage Wolverine.
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I can life with Fox owning the x-men. I don’t particularly want them in the MCU, and while I don’t like their take on them at all, it is successful, so why begrudge the fans the fun? But they have obviously no idea what they should do with the F4.
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Hmm I disagree, I don’t think Marvel Studios are the be all end all for Marvel. I really enjoyed a lot of the X-Men movies, sure there’s been questionable moments, but overall they’ve done a solid job.
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I have to admit that the X men movies have been really good. Fox might as well just have them show up in an x men movie and call it a day.
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Yeah if they want to save the Fantastic Four franchise they should make a crossover to create interest again
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Out of curiosity do you think that marvel should make another ant man movie. I haven’t seen it and have no desire to, but I have heard it’s good. Personally, I don’t believe the character will ever be a big money maker.
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Surprisingly Ant-Man ended up being my favourite superhero movie of 2015. It’s quite enjoyable but has the normal Marvel flaws. Money-wise it’s up to $300m ww so they might make a sequel, but I wouldn’t be fussed if they didn’t either
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As a die hard X-men fan growing up still having most of my Uncanny X-men as well as Wolverine mini series books, I must agree with Bewildered and have felt this way since the 1st X-men movie. They suck in comparison. Jackman’s none ravenous tall slow stiff non martial arts skills version of Wolverine is pathetic. Other than the hair, claws, and upper body (as of late), he seems like a totally different character. He has not captured that feared angry Logan persona. Maybe if the movies were my first introduction to the the team I would probably agree with you nkay96 but ravenous Wolverine is what made the team in my opinion. They left to many of his greatest attributes like this one taken from Marvel Index describing his skills ( During his time in Japan and other countries, Wolverine becomes a master of virtually all forms of martial arts and is experienced in virtually every fighting style on Earth). Does that sound like Jackan’s Wolverine? Its as if they had done very little research on the guy.
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Yes they should Ivan. I too had apprehensions but glad I went to catch this one in the theater. You are missing a really good movie.
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If Marvel ever gets X-Men and FF back, they shouldn’t do movies, just do live-action shows. From what I’ve seen of Agents of SHIELD and Daredevil, tv is just a better way to utilize all the characters and storylines because there’s A LOT of them and sure they can be done in a movie depending on how it’s done, but honestly the 90s X-Men animated series proved that the history and current events of a long-established group can be adapted well.
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I’ve remained very optimistic about this movie even since all those rumors about Doctor Doom being a computer nerd or something. Fox still fails to understand these characters and it’s very unfortunate. As for Deadpool, the marketing definitely has me excited and from what we know so far I definitely have high expectations for it.
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(It should seem kind of obvious but by “this movie” I meant Fantastic Four)
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Have you had the chance to check FF out yet? But yeah Deadpool has done a really good job selling their movie
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No, I still haven’t seen it yet. I’ve been very busy lately.
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FF is BAD. Just bad. No, worse. I’ll be doing a review of it soon, but for right now I’m just gonna simply say it’s complete crap.
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