Superhero movies during the summer are usually a home run, but "Fantastic Four" has failed to impress at the weekend box office.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Fox reboot of the comic super team flopped during its opening weekend with a $26.2 million debut. The disappointing results were significantly below the projected $40 million that analysts expected the movie to rake in. 

Although there have been a lot of buzz surrounding the new take on the famous foursome, Josh Trank's "Fantastic Four" took a beating with a host of negative reviews, contributing to the less than stellar numbers at the box office. Efforts have been made to upgrade the superhero team with a new, exciting cast including up-and-comers Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller, but Grantland dubbed the experience as "shameful", while a review from The Atlantic described the film as "a dull, sour, claustrophobic mess."

Fox's chief of distribution Chris Aronson is aware that the feedback on the film is not so fantastic, according to a report from Variety. "The confluence of clearly the decidedly negative reviews with the combination of social media did not help the cause," he said.

Although the numbers are dismal, Aronson said Fox is not hitting the panic button just yet. "We have a lot to look forward to in our comic book character universe. We may find different ways to feature these characters in the future, but it's early and we'll have to see what form that takes."

Drama behind the scenes increased the negative press surrounding the franchise, particularly when director Trank posted a scathing remark on his Twitter account. It read: "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 has been deleted since.

"Fantastic Four" trailed behind Tom Cruise's action-packed "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," which topped the charts on its second weekend with $29.4 million, bringing its total worldwide earnings at about $173.6 million, according to Empire Online. Meanwhile, "The Gift" overachieved at third place, earning $12 million with the movie's reported $5 million production. "Ant-Man," on the other hand, continues to earn steadily with $7.8 million over the weekend to round out its total earnings at $147.4 million.