Fantastic Four: First Steps

2005? Hmmm. I wonder what was different back then.

Studios used to understand that audiences go to movies to be entertained, not indoctrinated?

It's actually interesting. This movie came out the same year DC/Warner rebooted Superman. The 2005 version came out the same year DC/Warner rebooted Batman with Nolan's "Batman Begins." (Batman barely beat out FF on the worldwide box office but, IIRC, FF actually beat Batman on domestic box office. First Steps never got close to Superman.)

Yes, because Dirty Harry, Death Wish, Missing In Action, Rambo, and Red Dawn were innocent as a puppy, and had no point of view at all.

I think the significance is that Marvel was huge over the past decade, but in recent years, they’ve dropped off because of DEI and virtue signaling. People are just tired of it.

Outliers are your only argument and not a good one.

Okay, fella.

Not surprised that the morons are missing the point. Here are some helpful questions:

What year was the iPhone first released?

When did streaming services such as Netflix first come online?

What happened in 2020 that forced people to avoid movie theatres?

How did all of these things fundamentally change the way people consume entertainment?

Making comparisons between 2025 and 2005 isn't just disingenuous, it's downright idiotic.

Of the top ten grossing films in the USA this year, Superman, FF, Thunderbolts and Captain America are the only ones in the list that don't have a primary audience of children.

Although it is telling that you see Reed Richards not being a white man as indoctrination.

That's an interesting point. Except that 2002's "Lilo & Stitch" made $496 million when you adjust for inflation while the 2025 live action version made $1.038 billion.

Hey, Lilo & Stich is chock full of Hawaiians, and empowered girls at that. That's pretty woke.
Why aren't you and your bridge troll buddies crying blood over that?

or that they've simply run out of A tier characters as the actors that portray them age out of believability...

40 year old RDJr as Iron Man, naturally. Bold move, even

60 year old RDJr? More like iron supplements man...

They're otherwise doing fine. Your issue is that you're not the target audience anymore... and I don't just mean 40 something white dudes in recovery. I mean the target is an audience that's bored of paint by numbers plotting and wants something with nuance and pathos.

At this point we should also note that D+ stock is up over the past 6 months and their subscriber numbers are still five times what they were in 2020.

Face it... going anti woke was causing them to go broke. Seems their target market isn't middle aged white guys /shrug

not sure what the point here is? Grossing $496M in 2002 is the same as $893M in 2025.

I'd wager that the animation was more expensive to produce than the CGI...

Nope. Not surprising.

It did NOT gross $496M in 2002. It grossed $274M. That's what "adjusted for inflation" means. Reading is fundamental.

Less concerned about Reed Richards not being played by a white man than being miscast and written as a sad-sack cuck with a wino beard, while Girl Boss Sue Storm and Girl Silver Surfer save the world. And gay Johnny Storm, who thinks girls are icky.

Doesn't matter. If these movies were good, people would be going to see them. The fact is that Marvel has gone down hill since Endgame and ticket prices are too damn high. People are also sick of the politics and girl bosses.

Wow. Not only do you lack reading comprehension, you also lack visual /auditory comprehension.
How do you even function on a day-to-day basis?

The Thing.
Idiocracy.
Fight Club.
Office Space.
Blade Runner.
Shawshank Redemption.
Citizen Kane.
It's A Wonderful Life.
A Christmas Story.
The Big Lebowski.
The Iron Giant.
Children of Men.
Dredd 3D.
Under The Skin.
Blade Runner 2049.
Annihilation.

Just. Wow. Your ignorance is astounding.

Calling me ignorant is not an argument and you suck at it. None of those examples discredits my argument.

You'd have to explain how it doesn't, since every one of those movies is considered good to great and yet struggled or outright bombed at the box office.
Therefore, your claim that "if these movies were good, people would be going to see them" simply highlights your ignorance.
I'm sorry you needed that spelled out.

I'm not sure how anyone who actually watched the movie could suggest Johnny Storm is gay or that he thinks girls are icky.

One of his major throughlines was he was so fascinated with "Girl Silver Surfer" that he was trying to chat her up, called her a sexy alien. He literally says something himself along the lines of "Johnny loves space. Johnny loves women."

Unless you're trying to say that he was just fronting and was into Ben or something.

Your argument is discredited both by the long-proved notion that box office and quality of a movie don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. Some of the most profitable movies are low-quality, and some of the best quality movies (such as those on Crosis' list) had poor box office.

It is further discredited by doing an apples-to-apples comparison. Looking at how the movies did in domestic box office, these were all among the top performers of the year. So it's not true that no one is going to see those movies. It's that people aren't going to see those movies in the amounts comparable to 2015-2018, when there were no streaming services that would allow viewing of them within 90 days of their theatrical release and when a pandemic hadn't changed viewing habits fundamentally.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2025/

Watched this yesterday. It was not good at all. The visuals of the tech was the best part of the movie. Didn't take care for any of the main characters, they all seemed like they were the stand ins, I did like Paul Walter Hauser as the Mole Man. Over all, the movie is pretty forgettable. I would have been annoyed if I had paid to see this in the theater.

you really expect anyone to give more than the visual equivalent of overhearing to one of your posts?

that sounds dangerously close to considering you relevant.

The Thing's poor box office performance still blows my mind. I get that it was the summer of E.T and maybe an October release for an adult film of that nature would have seen better box office. But I'm still shocked that a summer movie that good didn't do better box office.

Remember it was also absolutely savaged in the reviews as well. It was both a critical and a chimneys failure. John Carpenter thought it would be the end of his career, being the first big- budget studio film he'd been given.

Watch the Cast of the Unreleased ‘Fantastic Four’ Movie Take Their Place in Marvel History

Honestly, critics opinions mean jack squat to me. Critics hated The Omen. Critics hated Scarface. Critics didnt like Psycho. Artsy fartsy crap like Annie Hall wins best picture over Star Wars. Christopher Reeves didnt even get a nomination for Superman, Val Kilmer didnt get nominated for Tombstone or The Doors etc.

If you go down the list of best pictures winners in the past 30 years, the majority are forgetable movies that no one paid to see. Everything Everywhere All At Once better than Elvis, or Top Gun Maverick? Puhleeze

I did a bowel movement this morning that was better than Top Gun: Maverick, so that's not saying much.

But totally agree that a very large number of the critical darlings and Oscar winners end up in the waste bin of film history.