What’s a screener like me doing chatting about a film that almost nobody has seen? Well, let me tell ya, there’s a treasure trove of knowledge packed into the wild story of the Fantastic Four movie from 1994—one that was buried not for its lack of ambition, but for a totally different reason altogether. As a passionate advocate for screenwriters to grasp both the artistry of their craft and the often-treacherous business side of Hollywood, I think it’s vital to dive into these fascinating tales of cinematic mishaps, especially ones that hold surprising lessons for us all. So grab your popcorn, because we’re about to explore a film that was never meant to see the light of day, yet offers a glimpse into the bizarre world of rights retention and studio shenanigans. We’re peeling back the layers on the Fantastic Four movie that, against all odds, became a cult classic for all the wrong reasons. Intrigued? Let’s unravel this captivating tale together! LEARN MORE.
What is this piece doing on a screenwriting blog? Well, I’m a firm believer in the practice of screenwriters learning as much as they can not just about the art and craft of screenwriting, but the business of it as well. That’s why today we’re talking about the first and forgotten Fantastic Four movie.
With that in mind, now and then I’ll be offering some amazing stories of Hollywood lore, with embedded lessons that screenwriters, filmmakers, and cinephiles can take away from them. So let’s learn the tale of the Fantastic Four movie that was never meant to be.
The Fantastic Four Movie Made to Fail
In 1994, there was a low-budget feature film version of Fantastic Four developed and produced, but never distributed.
It’s objectively pretty horrible in many ways, mostly struggling from a ridiculously low budget for such a special effects-laden story. To many, it’s laughably bad when it comes to the special effects, which actually makes it a fun watch. There’s a charm to it in a B-movie kind of way.
It is also surprisingly the most comic-accurate adaptation of the Stan Lee/Marvel comic that we’ve seen so far.
‘The Fantastic Four’ (1994)
Why 1994’s Fantastic Four Was Made?
Usually, studios aren’t in the business of spending millions of dollars to make bad movies that don’t turn a profit.
However, it has happened for certain business and legal purposes.
Here’s where the screenwriting lesson comes about in this story. Let’s discuss options and rights contracts.
Studios, producers, and production companies often secure material for development by optioning the rights to whatever projects they are interested in adapting into feature films or television series.
Option rights used to be a hot commodity for screenwriters, in particular, during the lucrative screenwriting boom of the 1980s and 1990s. Screenwriters with high-concept scripts could make tens of thousands on options to start, often leading to big spec script sales in the six to seven-figure range.
Sadly, those days are long gone. Options still exist, but screenwriters won’t get the five-figure option deals of yesteryear. Most option agreements these days are free options called shopping agreements where you sign over exclusive permissions for a producer or development executive to shop your script for a certain amount of time.
Read More: The Screenwriters Simple Guide to Screenplay Options
As was the case for 1994’s Fantastic Four, the powers that be will often buy story rights to develop certain material. Most of the time, especially with desirable intellectual properties (IP), there will be certain clauses in the contract that dictate particular deadlines that need to be met.
The original owners of the material will state that they will allow the new owners ownership of the material as long as they produce a feature film or television series (whatever the case may be) by a certain date.
Why do they do this? Because they don’t want to outright sell their rights to someone who is never going to produce something from it.
The prime example occurred with some Marvel properties in the 1990s, well before superhero movies were WIDELY accepted—beyond the two titans of Superman and Batman.
In 1986, German producer Bernd Eichinger optioned the rights to make a Fantastic Four movie from Stan Lee for an estimated $250,000.
At the time, Marvel wasn’t doing so well. The company would sell film rights to their properties to the highest bidder, which is why, for many years, Sony had the rights to Spider-Man while Marvel Studios couldn’t use the character (and the many supporting heroes and villains within the Spider-Man comics) in their MCU universe. It wasn’t until 2016 that Sony partnered with them to include the character within a joint profit share.
In more recent years, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox Studios, which included rights to the X-Men and, yes, the Fantastic Four.
Back to 1986. Eichinger’s company tried to attach major studios like Warner Brothers and Columbia (eventually owned by Sony) to cover what would be a high budget for the production of the comic book adaptation. However, nothing came about.
By 1992, the rights he had optioned from Stan Lee were about to expire, meaning that all rights would revert back to Stan Lee if a film was not produced, as stated in the contract. Eichinger had asked for an extension from Marvel, to no avail. So, he figured out that all he had to do to retain the rights to the franchise was produce a film. There was no stipulation that the eventual film had to be a big studio movie.
‘The Fantastic Four’ (1994)
Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four
Eichinger teamed with B-Movie legend Roger Corman to produce the film on a $1 million budget. Music video director Oley Sassone directed. Production began in December of 1992 for a twenty-five-day shoot.
Alex Hyde-White took on the role of Reed Richards, also known as Mr. Fantastic, the leader of the superhero team. Jay Underwood portrayed Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, while Rebecca Staab played Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman. Michael Bailey Smith donned the heavy makeup and prosthetics to become Ben Grimm, also known as The Thing. The film also included Joseph Culp as the villainous Doctor Doom and Carl Ciarfalio as the transformed version of Ben Grimm.
The special effects were handled by a team led by John Vulich, who was known for his work in makeup and practical effects. Their effects, given the film’s limited budget, were relatively rudimentary but were a significant part of the film’s eventual charm and campy appeal.
The musical score for the movie was composed by David and Eric Wurst.
According to Avi Arad, then a Marvel executive, he heard about the movie’s rumored 1993 release, which was eventually pushed to January of 1994. This was news to him. He went to Eichinger, offering him a couple of million dollars in cash to not release it. Arad then destroyed (almost) all of the prints. However, Eighinger still retained the rights.
Eichinger is rumored to have never intended to release the film. This was a shot in the heart of the cast and crew, who believed in what they were doing.
In the end, Eichinger retained the rights and eventually went on to produce the 2005 version that we’ve all seen, as well as its sequel.
‘The Fantastic Four’ (1994)
What Screenwriters Can Learn from the Unreleased Movie
In the end, Hollywood is a business. IP is a highly desirable commodity for studios, networks, and streamers. There’s no escaping the fact that Hollywood will sometimes choose IP over an original screenplay. But that doesn’t mean original screenplays aren’t desired.
Here’s a tangent screenwriting lesson to be learned.
The studio system has changed. Studios—and their TV network and streamer counterparts—produce very few movies each year. And the ones they normally do are IP-based projects:
Pitching directly to these corporately owned companies isn’t worth your trouble. They don’t accept unsolicited material anyway.
Instead, production companies are the way to go. They are tasked with most content and talent acquisition and development. While many of the bigger production companies may be hard to pitch to, you can go to the smaller production companies that you see logos of at the beginning of most movies adapted from original screenplays.
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1994’s Fantastic Four was an example of a film being made not for quality storytelling or entertainment, but solely to retain the rights to the characters for future use.
Sure, those directly involved in the production wanted to make the best possible film they could with the little money they had.
But the rights-holding producer knew full well that a bad movie was going to be made because of the budget (or lack thereof).
In the 1990s (and beyond), pirated copies of the film made their way into VCRs around the world. It isn’t hard to find pirated copies of the film online if you know where to look.
And there is also a documentary that dives deeper into the making of the infamous film.
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An approved Fantastic Four movie was released in 2005, and a 2015 Fantastic Four reboot was critically panned and failed to generate any notable box office. However, a new MCU Fantastic Four is currently slated for release in the Summer of 2005.
And for you, Fantastic Four fans, keep an eye out for them in Deadpool & Wolverine! Rumor has it they’ll appear. But which variations will they be? Perhaps the actors from the 1994 unreleased cult classic will reprise their roles…
Read More: Top 25 Original Screenplay Box Office Hits of All-Time
Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.
He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout, starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner, the feature thriller Hunter’s Creed, and many Lifetime thrillers. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies and Instagram @KenMovies76
