This summer saw the release of two high-profile and high-budget films directed by relatively novice Directors with only one real project of note to their credit. Colin Trevorrow has the low budget “Safety Not Guaranteed” which had no real stars, budget or FX and yet Universal entrusted him with “Jurassic World” and saw huge returns at the box office.
Joshua Trank was coming off “Chronicles” and before “Fantastic 4” even released, was named to direct a film in the “Star Wars” Anthology series before being removed several months later from the project.
“Fantastic 4” has been met with scathing reviews and a bad box office opening which has caused the Director to take shots at the studio. It should also be noted that Producer Simon Kinberg who worked with Trank on “Fantastic 4” and who also works on “Star Wars” did not get along and may have been a part of his removal from “Star Wars” Trank was upset that Kinberg rewrote his script and thinks that his version was better.
There were also unconfirmed reports by some of drug use and erratic behavior on set but we will not delve into that as they are just that, unconfirmed reports.
So, why did “Jurassic World” soar while “Fantastic 4” flopped? For starters Universal ran a tight ship over the film, as people may remember they pretty much shut down production, fired several people that Trevorrow had brought in, and delayed the film in what some have said was a “come to Jesus” type meeting to make sure the Director knew how things were done when you work with a big budget project for a studio and let us not forget that Stephen Spielberg was an Executive Producer”.
Trank may have simply bitten off more than he could chew and was not prepared for the pressure of a big-budget franchise film as well as dealing with the often conflicting personalities and lack of control that happen on studio films.
It will be interesting to see where the future takes both Directors but as I speculated Trank being removed from “Star Wars” likely had much to do with his reported friction with Kinberg and issues making the film. It was clear that the production of “Fantastic 4” was not a smooth production and that the powers at Lucasfilm ultimately decided that the likely bomb of “Fantastic 4” was not what they wanted brought up when trying to create and promote his film.
For now Trevorrow is involved in the “Jurassic World” sequel but will not be directing while Trank has an uncertain future as he has yet to announce his next project.
