Ant-Man Director on Why The Fantastic Four Failed at the Box Office

Ever since this summer's superhero adventure The Fantastic Four bombed at the box office, everyone from the actors to the director to the studio has had something to say about its failure. Now Ant-Man director Peyton Reed has offered his own opinion as to why the movie did not find an audience.

Reed was involved in the development of a Fantastic Four movie in the early 2000s, before being replaced by Tim Story, who went on to make 2005's Fantastic Four and 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. In a new interview with Yahoo News, Reed spoke about the difficulties in making a Fantastic Four movie work for fans, and why none of the movies to date have achieved this.

"Fantastic Four in the comics was always the pinnacle of Marvel, the crown jewel--they were the first family of Marvel Comics," he said. "The two existing [film] versions did massive pendulum swings from each other. One was very pitched toward younger kids and very broad, and the second was a much darker version of it. I just personally feel like they have not gotten the tone right. And man, it's a bummer. I think the tone has got to be one of optimism, and you've got to take it seriously.

"I think they haven't really gotten Mr. Fantastic's powers right visually on screen," Reed continued. "I think there's some really badass ways to make that [character] work. I just know there's a great Fantastic Four movie to be had. I'm convinced that it can work."

This year's Fantastic Four has to date made just under $167 million at the worldwide box office, and with a production budget of $120 million, it stands to make a considerable loss for Fox. Last week, the studio's executive chairman Rupert Murdoch singled out the film's poor performance as a key factor in Fox's lower-than-predicted 2015 revenue.

Reed's next film will be the Ant-Man sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, which arrives in cinemas on July 6, 2018.