Marvel's ABC TV series Inhumans has made its long-awaited debut, with a modified version
of the first two episodes landing in IMAX theaters across the country.
Unfortunately, the reaction from critics and fans has not been kind.
The theatrical release currently has yet to earn a single positive review on Rotten Tomatoes,
the box office take has been anemic, and fans have been left wondering how a project that
spent such a long time in development is turning out to be Marvel's first massive flop.
There are several factors that brought Inhumans to this point, so let's take a look at where
this project went so wrong.
Red light, green light
Inhumans was first announced in 2014, as part of Marvel Studios' slate of then-upcoming
theatrical releases, and it was intended at that time to be included in Phase Three.
The Inhuman Royal Family was never the most high-profile of Marvel's stable of characters.
But at the time of the announcement, the studio was coming off the surprise smash hit Guardians
of the Galaxy, featuring an ensemble of characters whose profiles had previously been even lower.
There seemed to be no reason for concern — until April 2016, when the project was pulled from
Marvel's schedule.
At first, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige said the release date was just being
shuffled to make room for a solo Spider-Man movie and a sequel to Ant-Man.
But then the project moved to the small screen with ABC, and things got even weirder.
"We've been hiding here for too long, let's go to our rightful home"
Rumors persisted that the project was in danger of being scrapped altogether, and many fans
were surprised when casting announcements soon began to hit the web — and then disappointed,
once teaser images soon followed.
Terrible teasers
The Inhuman Royal Family consists of some of the most colorful and outlandish characters
in Marvel Comics.
You've got Medusa's swirling, deadly red locks and Gorgon's sci-fi-fantasy aesthetic and
the fish-man Triton.
So, the series' visual design calls for some serious artistic flair.
But when the first teaser images of the cast in costume were released, it quickly became
apparent that we were not going to get that.
Fans immediately voiced their dismay on social media.
Medusa in particular was singled out, as her hair was less of a special effect and more
of a really bad wig.
The bargain-basement feel of the crucial first promotional image didn't do anything to increase
their anticipation of what should've been a visual spectacle.
And the trailers weren't much better.
Despite an appearance by the teleporting dog Lockjaw getting a positive response, pretty
much every other aspect of the trailer was widely criticized.
Medusa again underwhelmed as fans got not even a tease of what her hair could do, and
some even began to wonder if her abilities would make it into the show at all.
The second trailer resolved that issue — but only by employing some of the worst CGI effects
this side of a ten year-old SyFy movie.
"Never."
A preview shown at San Diego Comic-Con also left fans deriding the new footage as "aggressively
awful."
So, instead of hype, the imagery only earned gripes.
Awkward press panel
A few weeks prior to the release of the IMAX presentation, ABC TV held its annual press
event with the Television Critics' Association.
When the cast of Inhumans came out to talk to the assembled journalists, it became quickly
apparent that they may not have been ready to field question after question about the
poor internet reaction to the trailers and the show's perceived lack of quality.
Anson Mount, for example, responded to questions about the poor reception by saying they made
him feel like Ben Affleck during the Batman Vs. Superman tour.
"I agree."
And the rest of the cast members were viewed as evasive, deflective, and somewhat bewildered
by what they were up against.
Marvel TV chief Jeph Loeb even snapped at reporters and shut the event down early.
Of course, the cast may have had a reason to be on edge.
Imperiled production
The plan to divert Inhumans from the silver to small screen meant that producers had just
months to cast, write, and develop an eight-episode miniseries from an already ambitious basis.
Making matters worse, the IMAX premiere of the first two episodes meant that those episodes
would have to be produced on an extremely accelerated schedule.
Those episodes' director, Roel Reine, revealed that although the process was "collaborative,"
he was definitely under the studio's thumb all the while, telling CNET, there was "always
a Marvel executive around me just to make sure that whatever I did, or whatever we did
together, would tie in with other characters in other universes, in other comics, in other
series or movies.
They're very protective."
The rushed nature of the production is apparent in the finished product, and the fact that
some scenes are gorgeously shot in IMAX actually hurts rather than helps.
The IMAX experiment
Critics have pointed out that the scenes that are shot in IMAX look fantastic, but that
they also make it even more apparent which scenes were not.
The interiors and costumes have every bit the low-budget aesthetic suggested by the
trailers, flaws that are only magnified up on that gigantic screen, with the gorgeous
IMAX footage occasionally popping in to make the rest of the film look even worse by comparison.
"We're inhumans"
In the first week of a planned two-week run, Inhumans grossed about $1.5 million, which
is a paltry sum compared to the promotional expenses.
While an investment by IMAX will make Inhumans profitable for Disney no matter what happens,
it's not exactly encouraging for partnerships of this kind in the future.
Critical miss
In the summer of flailing film studios blaming critics for killing their box office returns,
Inhumans is no exception.
Reviewers overwhelmingly railed on what they saw in the series, from the acting to direction
to set design and even special effects.
Some have gone so far as to call it the worst thing Marvel has done.
And after the critical lashing the Marvel TV execs took for Iron Fist, that says a lot.
Perhaps the fact that the studio gave the reins of the show to Iron Fist's showrunner
Scott Buck can be blamed for that double-dose of disses.
After all, Iron Fist also failed to live up to expectations for similar reasons.
Both shows were rushed in conception and execution, poorly written and plotted, and indifferently
staged and photographed.
Whether or not the failure of Inhumans is part of any trend of declining quality among
Marvel TV productions is up for debate, but if Buck is allowed to go to bat for a third
Marvel property, he's going to have two strikes against him already.
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