4) Fantastic Four
Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four was an unmitigated disaster – nobody in their right mind is arguing with that. Incoherent and tonally inconsistent, the film also features some below-par CGI and a truly terrible third act that by all accounts came about when Trank and 20th Century Fox couldn’t agree on how the film should end (Trank’s original ending involved the Fantasticar, nowhere to be seen in the final cut). Most immediately noticeable to many, however, was the film’s lack of action.
While we don’t know what Trank’s original ending of Fantastic Four was to be, we do know of at least of one key action sequence that was inexplicably cut at the last minute. This was the ‘Thing drop’ sequence teased in the trailers, the scene that featured Jamie Bell’s The Thing dive-bombing out of a stealth jet to take out a terrorist camp.
The whole thing was filmed, and – judging by the trailers – effects work was completed. Again, it’s unclear why – in a film desperately lacking excitement – the creatives decided such awesomeness should be cut.