Last night at Comic-Con, test footage for Matt Shakman’s “Fantastic Four: First Steps” was shown, and of course, the footage has leaked online. Surprisingly, it looks pretty good. I love the retro ‘60 style. All I ask is for Marvel to give us something different, and this does indeed look like it could be different.
The footage shown at Comic-Con was shot in 4:3 aspect ratio. I’d be shocked if Marvel commits to this format for the entire movie. There is almost zero chance we get a 4:3 MCU movie, but wouldn’t that be something? Giving “Son of Saul,” “Ida” and “The Lighthouse” a run for their money.
Quite interesting how Shakman, of all people, might have finally cracked the code for allowing Marvel to switch it up in terms of style with one of their films. Shakman is mostly known for directing Disney’s “WandaVision” and has helmed episodes of “The Great”, “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, “Fargo” and “Game of Thrones.”
“Fantastic Four” had been announced in 2019. By December 2020, Jon Watts was attached to direct; only to then exit the project two years later. Soon after, Shakman replaced Watts. In early 2022, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were hired as writers for the film. By March 2023, Josh Friedman was hired to rewrite the script. Peter Cameron seems to now be the main writer on the film.
The cast of “Fantastic Four: First Steps” will include Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Ebon Moss-Bacharach (The Thing), and Joseph Quinn (The Human Torch). A July 25, 2025 release date is set up for the movie.
The Fantastic Four were already part of two disastrous movies, released in 2005 and 2007, and, again, revived in the clunky 2015 ‘Fant4stic’ reboot. Hopefully, Kevin Feige, Shakman and company have finally cracked the code.
After this weekend, when “Artificial” and “Behemoth!” screen at NYFF, there won’t be many Oscar contenders left unseen. In fact, by my count, there are just two: ‘Cliff Booth,’ and “Dune: Part Three.”