Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman's the Fantastic Four is a documentary that takes us behind the scenes of a movie that was finished, but never officially released, and now lives on in bootlegged versions. It takes us back to a time when Marvel was hard-up for cash and sold the rights of their films to lesser entities like Cannon. In this case, a producer had the rights to the Fantastic Four, and wanted to get it made quickly and on the cheap. That's where Roger Corman came in, and the movie did get made; but before it could be released, it died on the vine, and before we knew it, FOX had the rights and the film was made on the big screen, and the rest was history.
I really enjoyed this. I think as a comic book fan growing up in the 80s and 90s, this may have captured the feeling of that time better than any of the dramatic adaptations of any of the comics. The interviews were compelling, the sense of expectation and what this movie could mean for everyone's careers, coupled with the misgivings they had around things like the budget and timeline they were working with, really took us behind the scenes in a way that, at least for me, put a lot of how all this works into a new perspective. The idea that maybe this low-budget film was being used by Marvel to leverage FOX into a deal, or that perhaps the person who had the rights was using Corman to leverage Marvel to buy him off, and that ultimately it's the actors and crew--and to some extent us as fans--who suffer when the film is shelved and buried. To my mind, we needed this movie and to hear what the people involved had to say, almost as much as the people involved needed to get their story out.
I have to confess, I haven't seen any of the bootlegged copies of the finished product that are floating around, but I would like to. From what I've seen, I think it would be a great accompaniment to The Punisher, Captain America, and Nick Fury. The fact that Marvel, under Disney, is trying to bury these DTV installments is a shame--and shortsighted. While no one is clamoring for a special edition of the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot that barely covered its budget at the gate, a Shout Factory blu-ray with all the extras for the 1994 version would definitely be a hit--and would also gin up interest in a new incarnation if they ever wanted to try it on the big screen again. The thing is, I don't know if the Fantastic Four is the kind of thing that can pull in $4 billion worldwide. Maybe now that Disney has it (I think, right?), a Disney+ series with all the characters they have at their disposal would be way to go.
I don't know if I'd say Roger Corman's reputation takes a hit in this movie, but I don't know that he looks good either, and it was a bit of a disappointment to see that. I'm going to get into Lloyd Kaufman's small part in this later, but it's almost like he predicted what was going to happen here. At the very least, Corman lost control of this picture, and I think that's what happens when you take on someone else's property. For us, the idea of The Fantastic Four being shot on the Carnosaur set is too amazing for words, but it sounds like when Stan Lee saw it, he crapped himself. Anyway, the way the documentary paints it--or at least the impression I got--is that Corman was substantially compensated for the trouble he went to in producing this and subsequently allowing it to be buried, but he wasn't exactly forthright with the cast and crew about that. If that's the case, I don't know if it takes some of the shine off Corman as a low-budget producer, but it does give us a more realistic understanding of the business he's in and the decisions he has to make.
One of the things Mitch and I discussed on the podcast was if there was a place for the DTV comic book movie in the modern blockbuster environment, and I think there is. I don't know if the Fantastic Four is it, but I think with the way DTV and straight to streaming has become bigger and includes bigger names, there are a lot of Marvel and DC properties that would work in the modern DTV world. Moon Knight is one I've brought up before, with Dolph Lundgren at the helm--though Scott Adkins would work too. With all the DTV work Nicolas Cage has been doing, Ghost Rider seems to be another obvious one. She-Hulk is one that hasn't been done yet, and while I wouldn't see a big screen market for her, a DTV film using a WWE star the way WWE has taken over DTV properties like The Marine sequels would work. Winter Soldier is another that could be done well, especially in an Eastern European setting, where a lot of DTV films are shot. Finally, what about some of the X products? Maybe a Domino DTV flick that slots in between Deadpool sequels? One thing that may hurt us with possible new DTV comic book flicks though is the success of The Joker. A $55 million budget that was turned into over $1 billion worldwide at the gate might have studios thinking with the right story and talent, they don't need to spend $500 million and have to make $4 billion to be a success.
Finally, I wanted to talk about Lloyd Kaufman's small part at the beginning of the film. We find out that Kaufman and Troma were also approached for the Fantastic Four adaptation, and Kaufman turned it down. His reasoning was, what's in it for us? We have our own brand, and our own characters, I don't see the benefit in us trying to make a film for someone else with someone else's characters. As I mentioned above, I wonder if he foresaw the trouble that Corman ended up having--at the very least, he knew he would be beholden to someone else creatively, and he didn't want that. As much as Corman and the 1994 Fantastic Four that never happened get to the heart of what DTV films are all about, there are very few who embody the spirit more than Kaufman, and this appearance and his explanation on why he declined to work on this project really showed why he's so great. Here's to you Mr. Kaufman, you're one of the good ones.
I can't recommend this enough. If you have Prime, I would check it out, or even rent it if you need to, it's really worth it. In terms of the podcast, that was also a great episode worth checking out. Mitch and I did almost 2 hours on the subject of comic book movies, so if you're traveling for the holidays, load it up have it on in the background while you're on the road/in the air/ridin' that train, high on cocaine, etc.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3113456
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