Wow. F4:First Steps was great. But I see why it didn't make a ton
Just watched on Disney streaming. It was such a nice movie. The characters didn't feel like a copy/paste of other ones (quips, witty banter, etc).
As far as not making money... no surprises, but stuff's expensive. I don't go to the movies unless it's a big spectacle that benefits from the big screen. And honestly, if it's a quieter movie, I rather be comfortable on my sofa and watch it.
FF didn't feel like a spectacle I needed to see on the big screen. I'm awful at articulating opinions, but it had a more rainy night movie or intimate feeling to it. I don't know if that speaks to pacing, or tone, but I'd put it in the category of Road to Perdition or Logan (even though Logan is a good bit more action heavy).
As far as not making money... no surprises, but stuff's expensive. I don't go to the movies unless it's a big spectacle that benefits from the big screen. And honestly, if it's a quieter movie, I rather be comfortable on my sofa and watch it.
FF didn't feel like a spectacle I needed to see on the big screen. I'm awful at articulating opinions, but it had a more rainy night movie or intimate feeling to it. I don't know if that speaks to pacing, or tone, but I'd put it in the category of Road to Perdition or Logan (even though Logan is a good bit more action heavy).
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I think it didn’t make money because everyone is low on Marvel and movies have been down overall
Like they could've had the public react in a wild way, cause it's a separate world. Could've done something more interesting than "and then Sue makes a nice, wholesome speech."
Largely, Reed and Ben could've been non-superpowered.
I think chunks of the writing were a bit hamfisted. Similar trap that Brave New World fell into where a character's presented as a genius, then does objectively silly shit. The baby trap was odd. Revealing the big space monster wants Franklin was dumb.
Could've been tighter too, bits replaced with better stuff. Ben must've had a cut side plot. What we do see was pointless, should've spent that time showcasing his powers more.
I still think their intro to the MCU would have been much better received if they had a lower stakes adventure that focused on developing the characters in a fun way. Their interactions as a team/family were the best part, after all. And Reed....oof. I like Pedro, but I question having Reed in a crisis of confidence for basically the whole movie. I couldn't help laughing when Galactus was stretching him like a rubber band and he was about to burst into tears. What was that about? (Contrast that with how the 2005 movie had Reed actually leading the team decisively to work together to defeat Doom.)
People I've talked to who were unfamiliar with the comics were pretty confused by Franklin's deus ex machina powers. I know we all understand what that's about, but for the average filmgoer it probably seemed weird, or "dumb," as one reaction put it. I liked a lot of what they did, but it felt they were rushing through some big things that probably should have been rolled out with more care and over more than one film. They probably should have kept it simple and just fought the Mole Man.
Agreed that a film before the one we got would have been a good idea. — They could’ve teased the fact Sue and Reed were trying and couldn’t have a baby and the opening would hit harder. It would’ve given time for Ben to have more than a singular scene to build on his romance w/ Rachel. Instead we got a singular scene wasting Natasha Lyonne of all people that could’ve been left in the editing room.
And yeah “magic baby” as a plot device is a bit contrived. Especially to a casual moviegoer.
I have no idea what relevance that has to my comment.
“Johnny, KILL HER!” The birth. Spiraling lasers. All so cool.
The final showdown was basically “can we trick Big G into a trap.” Tossing Ben into orbit was neat… Sue’s big moment was neat… but nothing was as cool as the space stuff.
Reed shifted gears to the only thing they could pull off within a day, which was lure Big G to the last remaining teleporter. It was a long shot Plan B, and yes, it only worked because Sue fatally exerted herself to push Big G into the portal. And even THAT needed a last-minute assist.
Otherwise, yes, they fail. Which is fine by me because no one should be outright defeating Galactus without a heap of luck and unexpected intervention.
But I think the most important is that it's not an MCU film. It takes place in a different universe. The best advantage these films have is being in the MCU where fans can get excited for a Nick Fury type of cameo.
The Marvels had Nick Fury and it bombed hard.
If Kraven was set in the MCU, and had a Tom Holland Spider-Man appearance, it would have made a lot more money even if the movie was pretty much the same.
Watching it in 3D and seeing how small our heroes looked against Galactus was something pretty special that can't be replicated on a home TV.
And I think that’s a big reason for it not making money. Assuming I’m right at least about the timing haha. Rebooted dinosaurs vs. rebooted superheroes? Easy xD
Yes, Galactus and the space scenes were fucking great and cinema-worthy, but there was a good chunk of the film that definitely was quieter and more character-driven and story-driven than action-heavy.
I think one good comparison would be Superman Returns, good film with some big setpieces, but as Ben Grimm would whine about, "not a lot of punching".
And that hurts the rewatchability, especially with younger audiences and especially nowaways, with so many people needing dopamine injections every 2 minutes to keep their attention span.
Edit:
Have to add, the point of the original comic was to show that Galactus viewed the human race as ants. It was meant to show that he underestimated us and that we weren’t as easy to devour as his previous meals. He would learn from his mistake and return to try again.
It was a very heavy neutron star, not a black hole.
Followed by
"I never go to see movies at the movie theater."
That's why all movies aren't making the necessary money for the industry to sustain itself.
But everything on earth was gorgeous too. The retro futuristic vibe was done so well.
In contrast, seeing something like Demon Slayer on the big screen was well worth it for the entire animation alone. And that's not even getting into the Entertainment District arc. If that was available in theatres right now, I'd buy tix for it.
I really do wish that marvel had the balls to let their world get devoted with the fantastic four jumping ship and the silver lining being that they would help Franklin honestly his powers to one day possibly restore their earth and return home.
I lived the casting if the four. But I feel like Reed and Ben lacked big moments. I. The film you can at least see a Big Grim that can definitely go toe to toe with the hulk as he should. Reed is the brins and ultimately it's his teleportation machine that saves the day, but they really should have done something grand with his stretching.
I swear the day that we as a community remember that the better or else we will get nothing about Iron Man, Peter Parkers, and Steve Rogers Reboots over and over again if we only wanted 100% hits.
Can't do that if the movies fail because losers don't watch, whine, and convince others not to go.
I also don't think it's really correct to equate "box office takings" with "financial success" when we're talking about the MCU. Marvel, and Disney by extension, have a huge amount of income streams outside of the films. Whilst the MCU is a flagship product, if people are buying comics, toys, bedsheets, Disneyland tickets and Marvel Rivals premium skins because the films have hyped them up, the film could make a loss at the box office but still prove to be a good investment for the company at large. This is particularly true for the argument "They're losing money at the box office because everybody waits until it comes out on Disney+", when Disney takes 100% of the D+ subscription instead of a percentage of a cinema ticket.
I was hoping for an ending where Galactus actually wins, and the only way for the F4 survives is by jumping to another universe, which would be the main MCU
Johnny's supernova move. Reeds push to make the machine work. Ben and Alicias love. Sue holding back the fire on the bridge. Dr. Doom hamming it up even was super fun!
This movie... the space chase waa cool. But thats more Silver Surfer. Theres no instant of holy shit they just did a badass move. Theres no oh crap look at them go!
Its a good movie but im glad I waited to see it cause I did not get any singular wow moment for the heroes. Iron Man has his suit ups. Cap has Molnjir. Thor has his lightning. Like where is the defining hero shot for the fantastic 4?
I admittedly am fortunate to live somewhere where my fellow moviegoers are very well behaved and going to the cinema is a joy
I am probably going to be roped into taking my child to see Zootopia 2, though. That’s an entirely different topic, though.
Both felt fresh and about something.
Those space scenes and Galactus honestly worth the price of admission for me.
I do want to say that despite the Galacti of it all, The FF never felt like a "spectacle" sort of property to me. Much closer to a "family that happens to be involved in spectacles a lot" kind of thing, if that makes sense. But that grounds the spectacles a bit. Focuses thing not so much on the monster but the people trying to stop the monster, and the people they're trying to protect. And I think this film did that better than any of the others so far.
But the way they defeated Galactus was such a let down for me.
Also, I know there have been female heralds in the comics, but I would have preferred Norrin for this first movie.
I’m probably a minority here, but this is the first MCU movie that didn’t captivate me. As a fan from the comics since the 80’s, I found myself not really getting captivated.
However, there are enough positives to go on and it’s still an ok movie for me, just the first I’m probably nog gonna rewatch.
Let’s see what the future holds for the family.
And yeah it worked to an extent, but still King Kong.
I also enjoyed it very much. For a cosmic-level film, it felt very contained and focused in on the 4 protagonists. I could probably count on one hand the number of scenes which does not contain one of them. Most of the scenes take place in the Baxter Building, and there is not a whole bunch of punching goons. It felt like a movie, and not just a "Marvel Movie".
That said, its not perfect. The effects were great, and it does not fall into the same uncanny reality hole that Quantumania does, despite having almost as much CGI. People interact with stuff, pick things up, sit on chairs - what bothered me about Quantumania was that no-one felt like there *were* anywhere, whereas though there were a few scenes which felt unreal in First Steps, they were few and far between. BUT man CGI really can't do babies - the CGI Franklin is very uncanny valley. Its not Twilight levels, but its not great: he felt weightless and floaty, and I never believed that Ben was holding him in those moments.
I loved the family dynamic. I loved that despite the rest of the crew dismissing Jonny's investigations, Sue was always willing to follow-up with him in his room. That felt realistic, Reed would always follow his nose, and Ben will typically go with his friend, but Sue and Jonny are siblings, and so she's always happy to hear him out. I liked that Ben didn't mope *too much* about his crustiness (there's one scene where he sees his reflection in a window), and that though Reed festers in his guilt over the incident, Ben tries to talk him down like a friend would. I liked that Jonny wasn't an unmanageable jackass and that his ribbing of Reed was good natured. The Chris Evans Jonny Storm was a bit of a product of his time, just as much of that movie was, but I think this one strikes the right balance. I like that he scritches Herbie whenever he can.
I liked that there wasn't an unending stream of "Galactus-goons" to punch through. There was Galactus and the Silver Surfer and thats it - because thats enough. I do wish there was a bit more stretching from Reed, but thats just a minor gripe - and I think adding in another minor (miner villain maybe?!) would have lengthened the movie beyond what was necessary. It wouldn't have advanced the main story, and would just be fan-service, I get that.
I was so hyped up for F4 and after viewing it I was like, “That was really good. Can’t wait for it to come out on Disney+.” It just didn’t have the epic moment of Cap wielding Mjolnir, the general hilarity of D&W, and didn’t tie directly to the main MCU so I didn’t get the same “oh, shit. This changes everything” feeling from Black Panther. I mean, I KNOW F4 eventually ties to main MCU, but within itself it didn’t. No shade on the movie, it just wasn’t what I hoped it would be.
Again.
While it was a summer superhero movies with all the trappings of a blockbuster
It was really chill, which was actually a change up from what we’re used to to
The pacing was very much like a more serious type of film and the action wasn’t trying to bigger than the last scene or other movies
It fit the story.
This is what Marvel does from comic to screen
Date to be different
Any movie I'm paying that much to see I have to be 1)Super hyped for, 2) Be a 8/10 and 3)want to rewatch
After seeing the movie on D+ and finding it rather average, yea I would not been satisfied with what I spent had I went to the cinema
It's ridiculous that a big movie launches in theatres and then 30 days later, you can rent it on streaming. What's the point?
Feels more like a limited theatrical run.
Release the movie on the big screen. Let it run its course. Let audiences wait for a few months, then bring it to streaming.
Otherwise, no one will waste their money.
The appetite to watch the movie has to be there, and in terms of the MCU people are happy to hold off on a trip to the cinema unless it’s a Spider-Man or Avengers movie, regardless of the reviews.
I truly miss the Drive In we had growing up and I'm not even old lol...I lived where there is still an active one to this day and it's easily the best way to watch movies