When a film isn’t shown to critics before its release date, that’s usually a bad sign. More often than not, it means the studio is worried their movie is about to get panned.
This trend has made Fantastic Four fans decidedly antsy about the new reboot. It hasn’t received widespread press screenings, and all existing reviews are embargoed until the evening before the film comes out on Aug. 6. Even more worryingly, the film’s lead actors have spent the past few weeks promoting the movie without having seen it themselves.
“I’m going to try to see it opening night with a real audience,” actress Kate Mara (Sue Storm) told the BBC, and Miles Teller (Reed Richards) confirmed that the rest of the main cast hadn’t seen it either.
We can only guess why the cast hasn’t seen their own film, but it sounds like they may have similar suspicions regarding its critical reception. “Rarely are films of this size critically well received,” Miles Teller said in the same interview. “This is not a movie we’re going to go on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s going to be at 80 or 90 percent.”
Actually, there are plenty of superhero movies that scored above 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes: The Avengers, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Spider-Man 2, and The Dark Knight, to name just a few.
While the lack of Fantastic Four press screenings is ominous, it’s understandable from a business perspective. Fantastic Four has enough brand recognition to sell tickets without the help of reviews, but it seems bizarre to make the main cast promote the film without having seen it themselves.
Photo via Fantastic Four