I have not actually seen this new F4 movie. A couple weeks ago, after seeing the trailer in Ant-Man, we were kind of excited about seeing it. So, this last Saturday, it was looking like we might be able to get to a mid-afternoon movie. I looked up some showtimes and then went to IMDB to see reviews, just in case. Whoa, Nelly!! This movie was thrashed in the reviews. And, usually (though not always), the opening weekend fan reviews are from people who are excited to see the movie. But, both the fan reviews were largely a mix of "I got tired of trying to explain away the plot holes to my eight-year-old son", "This storyline feels like it was stitched together by four different committees", and "Why? Why? In the name of Stan Lee, WHY?!?!" In case there is any doubt, we did not go see the movie. ;-)
Assuming that these reviews and the reported disappointing box office are an accurate reflection of Fox's fortunes with the F4 franchise, Fox has to be thinking long and hard about whether they really want to make another F4 movie. I have to wonder: Is Fox's best option to simply offer to sell the rights back to Marvel/Disney? Fox has had three tries and none of them has been impressive. Why make another flop in a couple years to preserve the right to make yet another flop even further down the line? Call up Marvel Studios and say, "You have proven you can turn these comics franchises into box office gold. But, you can't do it with F4 until we release the movie rights back to you. So, what is it worth to you?" If they can turn turn the headline from "Fox's Fantastic Flop" to "Fox makes $40M on Marvel's Next F4 Movie", then they will have done quite well. Obviously, it's more complicated than that (and more so because Marvel may be so busy with their own films for the next few years that they wouldn't have time to make an F4 pic until after Fox's do-or-die date for the next feature had already passed anyway), but it may be the best option for Fox.