The Fantastic Four (1994-unreleased)

**BoG** Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:52 pm

The FANTASTIC FOUR (1994) starring ALEX HYDE-WHITE * REBECCA STAAB
JAY UNDERWOOD * MICHAEL BAILEY SMITH * IAN TRIGGER * JOSEPH CULP as Dr. Doom

"Are We in a Real Movie?" --- "Is That a Trick Question?"
The Fantastic Four (1994-unreleased) FFmovie1993

The Fantastic Four (1994-unreleased) FFmovie1993

This film was never released, only existing on bootleg DVDs or on YouTube. The story behind-the-scenes on this film are more interesting than the film itself and, in such cases, history is sometimes rewritten. Here is one version: The film idea originated with German film producer Bernd Eichinger, who bought the rights from Marvel. His plan was a big $45 million-budgeted production. But, there were delays; Eichinger had to be in production by the end of 1992 or let the option expire. He decided to go ahead with it but make it very cheaply, so he cut a deal with producer Roger Corman, known for quick, cheap movies.

The Fantastic Four (1994-unreleased) FFmovie1993a

The Fantastic Four (1994-unreleased) FFmovie1993b

Director Oley Sassone began shooting the film on 12/28/92 - 3 days before the deadline. The budget was announced as $2 million but many think it was closer to one million. Some wrote it as $1.9 million. Corman has mentioned a figure of $1.4 million (the joke here? that this was a big budget by Corman standards; most of his films were in the half-million to a million range). Filming lasted 28 days. The film was scheduled for a 01/19/94 premiere at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. There was quite a bit of marketing for such a small film; the stars were big draws at conventions. Posters were printed. Then, Eichinger paid Corman a million bucks to get the film back, also canceling all plans for release. The reason? Ostensibly, a big budget version of the film was already in the works (director Chris Columbus was connected with it at one point), the version Eichinger originally wanted to make, so this small film was looked upon as working AGAINST the planned new big version (would have cut into the projected box office grosses of the bigger film and so on).

The Fantastic Four (1994-unreleased) FFmovie1993e

Most of the above info is from the book MARVEL The Characters and Their Universe (2001) by Michael Mallory (a big hardcover book, btw). There were further rumors/info that came out later - that the film was never intended to be released and the producers knew this during production; the director & actors did not know this and worked on it as if expecting its release months down the road. In effect, the film in this theory was made as a tax write-off only, the film world's version of a comic book ashcan. Eichinger denied this later; he stated that he fully intended to release the film. He also says he got a call from Marvel Entertainment's Avi Arad, who didn't want a low-budget film of the FF to be released, possibly damaging the potential franchise. So, they cut a deal. Is that the real story? Twisted Evil

The Fantastic Four (1994-unreleased) FFmovie1993c

The Fantastic Four (1994-unreleased) FFmovie1993d

The film itself? I actually like the visual of Dr. Doom in this little version and the Thing suit is not that bad. Some of the digital animation of the Torch is OK but other shots are too cartoon-like. Most of the film is too much of a cartoon or a comic book. The dialog is very poor in places. The same stuff that works in comic books looks and sounds very silly on film. Tom DeFalco, head editor at Marvel at the time, summed it up: "I think it would have made a great syndicated television show. When you look at the final cut, you can tell this was a labor of love, and I think if it was for the small screen it probably would have got a lot of laughs." I have a bootleg DVD; it doesn't work very well in some DVD players. Sad

BoG's Score: 2 out of 10