Chris Columbus Claims He Got Booted from Fantastic Four for “Having Too Many Opinions”—Is Hollywood Ready for Directors Who Actually Speak Up?
Added on August 27, 2025 inEntertainment News Cards, Movie News Cards
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Ever get that feeling the universe is messing with you just when you think you’re steering the ship? Well, Chris Columbus—yeah, the guy who gave us Home Alone and the early Harry Potter magic—knows that cosmic joke all too well. Believe it or not, Columbus was supposed to be the big boss producer for the Fantastic Four flicks, but after dropping some “too many opinions” like a Mercury retrograde tantrum, 20th Century Fox tossed him out faster than a bad tarot reading. Now, credited but utterly uninvolved, Columbus reflects on how this scorched-earth moment soured his superhero mojo—an irony that feels written in the stars when you consider Leo season’s flair for drama and theatrical exits. And just like that, a director who once chased superheroes decided some stars shine brighter when you just let them be. Curious how a cosmic kick in the pants led him to embrace lighter mysteries instead? Dive into the tale behind the scenes and the latest chapter in Columbus’s career. LEARN MORE.
Chris Columbus, the director of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter movies, is credited as an executive producer on Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but he told the Fade to Black podcast that he “had nothing to do with it.” That wasn’t always the case, as Columbus was meant to produce the movies before 20th Century Fox fired him.
“We were in a weird situation,” Columbus said. “On the first Fantastic Four, I had worked on a script. There were a lot of writers involved. They were about to make a movie and I was producing it. I met with the director and had some ideas. I basically said, ‘Some of this conceptual art should feel more like Jack Kirby, the creator of the Fantastic Four, and should feel more like the Silver Age of Marvel.’ I left that meeting and on the way back from my house I got a call from the head of 20th Century Fox saying I was fired and had too much of an opinion.“
Columbus was big on superhero movies at the time, but said his experience with Fantastic Four “probably soured me a little” on the genre. “Over the years people have done it so well that I personally lost interest in making a superhero movie,” he said. “It started a little bit with Spider-Man 2. When I saw what Sam Raimi did with that I thought it was a perfect superhero movie. Certainly Matt Reeves’ The Batman with Robert Pattinson was a brilliant film, too. I realized I don’t have a desire to make those movies anymore because people are doing them better than I ever could at this point in my career.“
Columbus’s net film is The Thursday Murder Club, a crime comedy based on the novel by Richard Osman. It stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie. Our own Alex Maidy had a lot of fun with the film. “A light and fun mystery, The Thursday Murder Club would have been a solid big-screen project back in the pre-COVID days,” Maidy wrote. “It is also one of the strongest originals from Netflix in a long time. It may not have explosions or stunt-heavy action, but The Thursday Murder Club is a funny mystery that keeps a whimsical tone as Mirren, Brosnan, Kingsley, and Imrie keep a smile on your face from beginning to end.” You can check out the rest of his review right here. The film will debut on Netflix on August 28.
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