Fantastic four is better suited for cartoons and comics. It never was popular.
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
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I've always been a huge MCU fan. I was always day 1 in cinema to see the next movie. But with what is happening in the US, and all the threat the US have been making to my country (and the world), I don't feel like buying and consumming any american product right now.
You're not missing much.
1000%. There are quiet discussions on taxation of digital services here atm, I think adding a 20% import on movies parented by companis in America would bring the EU closer as our movies would be comparatively cheaper and the new revenues could go to grants for our own industry.
I just don't enjoy going to a movie theater that much. I'll watch it on Disney+ soon enough.
Yup, digital releases are within 3 months, high seas within the next few hours. Nothing enticing about a movie theater anymore.
The world is on fire, and the home country of these IPs is falling into a dictatorship. No one is stress watching movies, its not fun. Also, we're broke and we're about to sink into another recession.
It is a little hard to watch a movie where the hero saves the day from evil when you have a villain in the white house.
Yeah, they might do good making a new punisher who saves the Whitehouse violently. Everyone loves an underdog revenge movie.
This is, IMHO, why Superman is doing so well. It's the type of unapologetically wholesome shit I didn't know my soul was so desperate for.
EDIT: My wife just called it "hope porn" and I think it fits.
I've been burnt out on superhero stuff for a bit, and had zero interest in checking out Superman as the DC stuff has been of no interest to me since the Nolan Batman movies.
I put it on the other night for background noise, but it got my attention right from the start, and I really enjoyed it.
The biggest thing for me was when he saved that squirrel mid-fight. The guy has everyone trying to kill him and the city, and he loves everything about Earth so much he can't see any living thing suffer.
There is so much unspoken collateral damage in all these action movies, and Superman wouldn't even let a squirrel suffer for actions linked to him.
I want someone to look out for me, dang it. Where's our Superman?
Loved the detail of the squirrel going confused, wide stance alert mode after drop off
They tried to cut the squirrel scene after it tested badly but James kept it in because it’s so Superman
I just went back and watched the scene. The squirrel part is so quick compared to the other rescues like the dog in that same scene.
The dog got a lot more direct attention, and that makes sense since a lot of people have or really like dogs. But I've never seen anything where the hero stops to save an animal nobody would ever even put in a scene.
It wasn't played up like a bit like the dog, and that made it feel like a more natural thing this Superman would do. It turned a throwaway gag into a bit of character development that in 3 seconds showed us this Superman would put himself on the line to save any life.
I just saw FF tonight and I thought it was great. But I suspected interest must be off- I was in a cinema with only 12 other people.
I sqw Superman at 8 pm on the Friday it opened snd the theater was only about half full.
Fantastic Four have never been a very profitable property
This is true. Sure they’re Marvel’s “First Family” but even before the MCU or any of the fox movies they were less popular than The Avengers, who were less popular than the X-men.
Also, putting the movie up against Superman, who is DC’s #1 or #2 character, was a bad call.
I thought the movie was great though.
MCU used to be able to turn B- and C-list heroes into the biggest stars. I'm pretty sure Fantastic Four was more well known than Guardians of the Galaxy when that came out.
But in a bad way, in this case FFs reputation works against it. Pretty much all the previous movies were panned.
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20th Century Fox kinda destroyed any hype for new Fantastic Four movies.
Another thing not explored in this article is the 100 days to streaming rollout that we've seen.
A film comes out, ~60 days later it hits Premium VOD, ~30 days later a physical release, shortly after it hits Disney+.
A lot of people are willing to wait for a number of different reasons, economic, hype, quality, etc
For me it’s health related reasons. Even if I wanted to, I can’t go to a cinema to watch a movie.
That’s why I don’t mind paying for premium VODs (that’s the closest I can get to real cinema) but it’s just cruel that in this COVID-era of ours films are still released cinema first with a huge delay until the digital release.
Just let me watch it at home same day it releases for everyone else, I’m willing to pay for it.
Bit off topic but I wanted to watch a YT video about James Bond and like 30 seconds in the guy launches into spoilers for the new Mission Impossible movie. Had to close that tab real fast like; shit like this could be prevented.
I mean I really wanted to see it but I wanted to see Superman a lot more
Haven't seen Four yet but really enjoyed Superman.
I watched both and liked both as lot. Fantastic Four is probably the better movie. It's more polished, more visually impressive, better story, etc. But I enjoyed Superman more.
I do think they should have delayed Fantastic Four until at least mid August if not later. Maybe even save it for 2026.
2023 had three MCU films, 2024 had just one MCU film, 2025 was back to three, 2026 will have just two. There was plenty of space for this film, to put it right after Superman was probably a mistake.
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My favourite part of the movie was when Thing got home and announced "Daddy needs to get his rocks off!"
Wait, really.
Yes. Then he yelled, “it’s sandblasting time!” The camera cut to a wall where a stream of sand was hitting it and it pooling on the floor.
Of fucking course that wasn’t said. 🤦♂️
This drop-off tracks with the brand. I say this as someone who likes the F4, they just don't have a broad appeal with general audiences that other comic brands have. They're a property that only comic nerds care about and always have been.
Edit: They also had to complete with Superman. The F4 have never been able to compete with Superman.
I'm already two movies behind and yeah, I opted for Superman as well with zero regrets.
I know I'll see Fantastic Four on Disney+ eventually, and that's Disney's main problem.
You'll see Superman on HBO in the same time frame.
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Interesting article. I'd say one fact it misses the importance of is that Fantastic Four is the 37th film in the MCU in 17 years. The MCU a huge sprawling and bloated mess, and it's not surprising mainstream cinema goers have disengaged from it. That actually could hold a movie back - it's not see as a "fantastic four" reboot, it's seen as MCU installment 37 even if it tries not to be that.
Add to that, 17 years is a long time. Frankly a lot of the original audience have "grown out" of watching these movies, and younger cinema goers are not watching MCU movies so they're not replacing their audience. Plus streaming took off in that time and people who are now in their 30s and 40s are not going to the cinema anywhere near as much.
For me, none of fhis is surprising. If anything I'm impressed they stayed at the top for as long as they did. But it had to end eventually - tastes change, people grow up and move on. Super Hero movies aren't gone, but they're not automatic mega hits anymore - things are just going back to "normal". There isn't anything much wrong with the MCU to fix, audiences just aren't as interested in what it offers now.
Marvel/Disney will keep making them just as they do with Star Wars because they're in the business of franchises, but it's beyond it's peak and that's pretty normal in entertainment. Nothing dominates forever.
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