Fantastic Four does fantastically badly at the box office

Director Josh Trank seemed to distance himself from the movie late last week, tweeting: “A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would’ve received great reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though.”

The tweet, which hinted at creative differences with the film studio, has since been deleted, though screenshots have survived.

20th Century Fox’s attempt to reboot the Fantastic Four superhero franchise failed to oust Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation from the top spot at the North American box office. Tom Cruise’s latest film pulled in 29.4 million dollars (£18.9 million) in its second week.

Fantastic Four has received just one star on film review website Rotten Tomatoes. The overwhelming flop is a rare misstep, as Marvel superhero films are usually better received by critics and fans.

The reboot, made for 120 million dollars (£77.3 million) and with a massive marketing budget, stars Miles Teller, Michael B Jordan, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Chris Aronson, head of distribution at Fox. “We’ll do a post-mortem. As we do with everything that doesn’t work out, we’ll try to figure out why and move forward.

“The combination of less-than-desirable reviews and the power of social media conspired to suppress the opening.”

Until Tuesday, Fox’s tracking data suggested the opening the industry was widely expecting: at least 40 million dollars (£27.8 million).

But the film’s fortunes were changed as critics and film fans panned the movie.

The movie didn’t fare much better abroad, where it earned 34.1 million dollars (£22 million).

A sequel, already scheduled for 2017, now seems unlikely.

Fantastic Four is now showing in UK cinemas.