Notes

After the critical and financial failure of Fantastic Four, I imagine that we will be seeing a number of essays on the "death of the superhero movie" or the end of their reign over Hollywood. With the mediocre box office of Ant-Man and lower-than-expected of Age of Ultron, I'm bracing myself for the think pieces on how Disney, Fox, and WB have all bitten off way more than they can chew, and that all of these movies have gone over the peak.
But I disagree; I think that the failure of Fantastic Four is the best thing to happen to superhero movies in years. This collapse of a movie is proof that people don't just want to see any superhero movie with a character they know, they want to see any GOOD superhero movie. This should be the impetus for all of these companies to actually put effort into their movies. Yes, they all follow the same formula still, but at least they know that we as viewers want to see good movies, not just any movie.
I will admit that I really do like all of these movies, I wait in line the night before to see them. I was and am a big comic book reader, and I enjoy seeing them brought to life. And I was going to see Fantastic Four no matter what, for good or for bad. But this proves to me that the average viewer knows that not everything is worth the price of admission.
I don't need to see, for example, a Gambit movie, or another Thor or Green Lantern. And I doubt that most other people want to see those either. But I think that the failure of Fantastic Four should show that, unless the movie is going to be good, it isn't worth it to make. Hopefully the lesson learned by studios here is not that we don't want super hero movies, but that we won't see trash. I want to like a Fantastic Four movie. I really, really do. But I'd rather never see the characters on screen than see them like this.