This weekend was another sad weekend box office for Fantastic Four. It was kind of the reboot that no one wanted, and instead of meeting expectations, it’s easily the most poorly-reviewed superhero film in years. F4 only made $25.6 million last weekend (they were hoping for $40-50 million) and this weekend, the film only brought in $8 million. Box office analysts are calling it a “plunge” and a “nose dive.” I feel sorry for Michael B. Jordan and that’s about it.

Because of F4’s notable failure, the blame game began immediately. If we’re being honest, the blame game started when they were still making the film, because there were widespread reports of on-set friction, temper tantrums and general unpleasantness. THR did a great breakdown of all of the stuff that went wrong – go here to read. The first story is hilarious and sad – director Josh Trank tweeted (then quickly deleted) that he “made a fantastic version” of F4 that audiences would “probably never see” but his version is “better than 99 percent of the comic-book movies ever made.” One cast member replied: “I don’t think so.” Who was the cast member? I don’t know. But it could have been Miles Teller, because Miles and Trank almost got into a fistfight making the film:

There’s been a lot of finger-pointing in the aftermath of the $120 million movie’s disastrous $26 million opening weekend, which actually began with director Josh Trank’s Twitter-diss of the film on the eve of its release. The latest behind-the-scenes allegations finds Trank almost throwing down with star Miles Teller, who played Reed Richards in the Marvel mishap.

Trank initially fought hard to get Teller cast in the film, winning out over Fox’s objections. But the director and actor’s relationship later turned sour. According to a story in this week’s Entertainment Weekly, Trank and Teller did not get along on the set of the film; Trank was allegedly withdrawn during production, and Teller is frequently sarcastic, making for a bad combination. Things got so bad at one point, in fact, that Trank and Teller’s disagreement brought them chest-to-chest, daring one another to throw the first punch (Teller didn’t have the benefit of Mr. Fantastic’s super-stretchy arms in real life).

Neither man actually ended up throwing a punch, but it doesn’t seem as if the rest of the shoot went much better; previous reports from sources from the set have sources calling Trank’s behavior towards cast and crew abusive and cold, especially toward Kate Mara, who got the role of Sue Storm over his objections.

Trank also reportedly got into hot water with the owners of the house that he was renting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the film was shot. Things got a bit more violent there; his dogs supposedly ripped the place up, and he allegedly defaced the owner’s family photos when he was being evicted.

All through post-production, as the film gained bad buzz, Trank tried to defend what was becoming less and less his movie, but news of on-set meltdowns and the near-brawl with Teller make it clear that this film was destined to take it on the chin.

Despite Fantastic Four’s fantastic failure at the box office, Fox hasn’t said anything about the June 2017 date it set for a sequel. One thing’s for sure: If the Four franchise goes forward, Trank — who recently left his gig as director of one of the new Star Wars films — won’t be at the helm.

[From Yahoo]

Sounds about right. What I find slightly interesting – ??? – is that the F4 cast seemed pretty tight during promotional rounds. It could be that they were simply acting, or it could be that they were united behind a common enemy, an enemy who happened to be the director. And while Miles Teller is a noted douchebag, would anyone really blame him for getting into a fistfight with a dysfunctional director?

Photos courtesy of WENN.