Fantasticar Revealed

Via USA Today:

Translating the flying car from the page to the big screen was no small effort, says Tim Flattery, conceptual artist for the Fantastic Four sequel, which hits screens June 15. He showed several designs to director Tim Story, including one based loosely on the Batmobile, which he designed for 1995’s Batman Forever.

But Story rejected the designs as “too aggressive,” Flattery says. “He wanted something that looked less like a predator and more friendly. That’s always been the Fantastic Four theme.”

That family-friendly tenor helped the original movie rake in $155 million domestically and $330 million worldwide.

I’ve yet to see the first movie, and I’m still surprised it did so well, beating my projections by $30 million.

The entire cast, including Doctor Doom, is returning, so I figure if they get the CGI right on the Silver Surfer — and they should, considering the $30m increase in budget — they have a shot at matching the first installment’s take at the box office. It really depends on what they do with Galactus and how much screen time he gets, though, because even in the comics I find the character so ridiculous that translating him to film would seem, at first blush, to be courting disaster.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.