One of the bigger comic movie question marks of the summer is Josh Trank‘s "Fantastic Four." The super serious first trailer was somewhat divisive, with many fans unsure what to make of Trank’s humorless, sci-fi yet "grounded" approach. But hold on to your hats, because his overall plan is to do the complete opposite of the franchise’s previous incarnations in comic books and film and to avoid the somewhat lighter tone of contemporary Marvel movies.
"The original two films to me are very similar to a lot of recent movies that have come out, in terms of that kind of cartoonish [tone]. It’s just not something that me and [producer] Simon [Kinberg] are interested in as storytellers," he told Empire. "There’s the opportunity to make something that is challenging and tragic and dramatic. The opportunity is right there in the material. We’d rather steer it in that direction as opposed to just embracing a tone that comes right off the page."
So this aesthetic is just one you’ll have to roll with. Above and down below are images from "Fantastic Four" via Total Film. And there’s not a smile to be found. See you on August 7th.