'Fantastic Four' flops

Hollywood's summer has had runaway sensations ("Jurassic World") and heartwarming hits ("Inside Out"). It now has its fiasco.

"Fantastic Four," 20th Century Fox's attempt to reboot the superhero team-up franchise, debuted with just $26.2 million at North American theaters over the weekend, The Associated Press reports. The result was bad enough that last week's leader, Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation," held the top spot with $29.4 million in its second week.

The overwhelming flop for "Fantastic Four" is a rare humbling for a Marvel superhero film, which often gross more than $20 million in just one night. The film has been savaged by critics and was dogged by reports of creative difficulties. Director Josh Trank even distanced himself from it Thursday in a tweet he soon-after deleted in which he alluded to studio interference: "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this," he wrote.