Is the Fantastic Four movie going to be great or an absolute train wreck? With everything this film has gone through it’s more than a little amazing that we’re actually going to see it later this summer. Now, it turns out, that another major change has been made to the film’s production which, while not necessarily a bad thing, doesn’t do much to inspire confidence. After initially being advertised as getting a 3D release, Fox has now confirmed that the film will only be Fantastic in 2D.
According to Final Reel the plans for a 3D release of Fantastic Four have been officially scrapped by the studio. They received an official statement on the topic from director Josh Trank as well.
I want the viewing experience of Fantastic Four to remain as pure as possible for the audience, which means in 2D, just as we shot the movie.
While showing the movie in the way it was filmed is all well and good, this isn’t exactly Tarantino filming the Hateful Eight is it? It was rumored a couple months ago that the films 3D conversion budget was spent on reshoots, that may or may not have been directed by Matthew Vaughn rather than Trank. Whether or not the money was spent elsewhere, Fox could have allocated more money for the conversion if they thought it was worth it. 3D brings in much higher ticket prices in theaters and usually that, and not the desire for a pure viewing experience, dictates if the movie is released in 3D.
Fantastic Four has been inundated with issues from the beginning. Starting off as a reboot of one of the few Marvel properties that just didn’t work, they then made some significant changes to characters back stories which concerned some fans. Add to that rumors that director Josh Trank may have lost his shit during filming (and lost his Star Wars job in the process) and nobody's quite sure what to make of it all. The hype train that surrounds all the other summer blockbusters, the comic book based ones especially, has been mostly absent here as well.
A lack of 3D is not the end of the world. If the movie is bad 3D is not going to help, and if it’s good 3D won’t be necessary. Still, it’s not helping to build confidence in a movie that can’t seem to catch a break. We’re still holding out hope that Fantastic Four will be good, but at this point it might be worth watching even if it isn’t. The fact that a movie that’s been through so much even made it to screens will be a stellar feat. Assuming it makes it of course. There’s still a whole month left for something else to go wrong.
