Yesterday (February 14), we finally got the confirmation we’ve been waiting for: your new MCU Fantastic Four is Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Richards, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm. And now we know when (probably) and where (probably) The Fantastic Four will begin production: this August, in the UK.
Specifically, per the latest issue of Production Weekly, production on The Fantastic Four will begin in August at Pinewood Studios in London. None of this is a huge surprise; multiple Marvel productions have filmed at Pinewood over the years, from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, to The Marvels and more. Presumably with the fantastic (no pun intended) space-set movie, there will be a lot of work on sets and soundstages. If there will be additional filming outside or in other locations is TBA. But right now, expect the bulk to start in August and run until question marks.
Those question marks are actually the big, er, question marks here… Along with the announcement of the cast, the release date for The Fantastic Four was switched with Thunderbolts; with the former now scheduled to premiere on July 25, 2025. That’s less than a year from when production begins, which is an extremely quick turnaround for what is almost definitely a special effects heavy movie. Beyond whatever the setting is and enemies, you’ve got a guy who stretches, a giant rock monster, a man who turns into flames, and a lady who turns invisible (though arguably that’s the cheapest to produce power).
Normally, these sorts of movies have at least six months of post-production — though often Marvel movies will stretch to a year or more to include time for reshoots and fixes. Production (to work backward) on a Marvel movie will often last four months or so… For example, Thunderbolts is currently scheduled to shoot from March 2024 through July 2024 in Atlanta, New York, and Utah. That movie is scheduled to release on May 2, 2025, giving it eight months of post-production, the norm for Marvel.
Fantastic Four is a much tighter turnaround. Even if they shoot for only four months, that leaves them seven months to complete any reshoots and effects for what is, again, probably an extremely effects heavy movie. While we don’t know the exact dates the movie is shooting, or anything about the schedule beyond when they start, this is a tight turnaround.
So will The Fantastic Four shift its premiere date? I’d say probably. Particularly with Superman Legacy scheduled to premiere two weeks before, it’s entirely possible Fantastic Four could shift into Blade‘s November premiere date, once Disney finds something else to put in the prime July slot.
Or hey, maybe like the previous Fantastic Four movies, they’ll spend a good chunk of the running time hanging out in a room to save money. Cool?
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