FOX X-Movie Franchise Hits "Reset Button"

[ZariusTwo]

A reboot of the diminishing mutant movie series is in the works as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine heads for retirement and a studio's $4 billion franchise sits in flux.

A reboot of the diminishing mutant movie series is in the works as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine heads for retirement and a studio's $4 billion franchise sits in flux.
With the summer release of X-Men: Apocalypse behind it and a Deadpool sequel hitting a speed bump, 20th Century Fox is finding its superhero franchise at another type of X: a crossroads.

Fox has had movie rights to Marvel's X-Men characters since the 1990s, well before Marvel became its own studio and Fox ostensibly launched the modern comic book movie with 2000's X-Men. But now, after some highs, lows and one reset (2011's X-Men: First Class), there are signs of wear and tear on a franchise that has grossed more than $4 billion.

Apocalypse, directed by Bryan Singer, earned $544 million worldwide, a sharp drop from the $748 million made by previous entry X-Men: Days of Future Past. What's more, stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult have come to the end of their three-picture contracts. If new studio chairman Stacey Snider wants them to return, they won't come cheap.

"You're gauged by the success of the franchise," says box-office analyst Paul Degarabedian. "This one didn't engender the love of previous movies. It's time to go back to the drawing board."

There are other signs of paint chipping as well. Fox's solidly performing Wolverine spinoff series winds down with Logan (March 3), which is meant to be the last of the Hugh Jackman-fronted movies. (The movie just released a trailer which insiders say was the most watched spot in the history of the X-Men franchise.) In addition, Gambit, a solo spinoff movie to star Channing Tatum, failed to start production this year as planned and in August lost its director, Doug Liman.

And in perhaps the most unexpected development, Deadpool director Tim Miller pulled out of the sequel Oct. 22 after feuding with star Ryan Reynolds. (His composer Tom Holkenborg soon followed.) Deadpool was a surprise massive hit ($782.6 million) in February, so the studio has moved quickly to fill the sequel's director chair, with John Wick's David Leitch now in negotiations. And in a sign of how much faith it has in the Reynolds-starring franchise, Fox already is planning Deadpool 3, readying a filmmaker search for a storyline that will involve another X-team, X-Force, say sources.

Elsewhere, the reset button has been pressed. Sources say the flagship series will be reconfigured, with Simon Kinberg, overseer of the franchise as producer and writer, working on a new script. Singer, who directed four X-Men movies, will not be returning, according to insiders, but the script is being written with Lawrence, Fassbender and McAvoy optimistically in mind.

And after being on hold as Tatum shot Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky, Gambit should move back into active development with a new filmmaker.

One of Fox's best hopes may be The New Mutants, a spinoff featuring superpowered teens with some overlap with the flagship X-Men. According to sources, director Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) could even begin rolling cameras by spring.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...it-hold-945505

[Autbot_Benz]

Ugh enough give X-men back to Marvel. Fox you had way to many chances to do X-men right.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

LOL! I thought DoFP was the reset button! These guys can't do anything right.
I don't know what makes so many Marvel Studios films so appealing but Fox and WB totally aren't in tune with what they're doing.

[DestronMirage22]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

Ugh enough give X-men back to Marvel. Fox you had way to many chances to do X-men right.

Exactly. Another reboot or whatever will just make things worse. Better they cut their losses and give the rights to those who will use the characters better.

[Andrew NDB]

Elsewhere, the reset button has been pressed.

but the script is being written with Lawrence, Fassbender and McAvoy optimistically in mind.

So in other words... no reset button has been pressed at all.

Except this button, for Bryan Singer:



That's something, at least.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

They don't care who uses the characters better. Although its profitability is waning today, it still has the potential to be a real money-maker for Fox. It has been for almost two decades now. Deadpool alone lined their pockets with an incredible amount of cash.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

So in other words... no reset button has been pressed at all.

It's just one of those "we're doing things all-new, all-different!" spiels to get the doubters back in line.

[CyberCubed]

They just cast new young versions of Cyclops, Jean, Storm, etc. They're not dropping all that already.

[TurtleTitan97]

I'd only be interested in the reboot if they based it off the original X-Men team featuring Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel and actually made Scott Summers relevant again.

Until then, pass.

[Andrew NDB]

They'll likely try one more movie with the existing cast and if/when it fails to perform they'll crawl right back to Bryan Singer. Because that's what they always do.

[Autbot_Benz]

Originally Posted by TurtleTitan97

I'd only be interested in the reboot if they based it off the original X-Men team featuring Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel and actually made Scott Summers relevant again.

Until then, pass.

Don't Hold your breath Fox has no idea how to do Scott Summers in there movies. I miss the Bad ass Cyclops from the X-men 90's Cartoon

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Except for "Logan", I will not financially support any X-Men movie, no matter who is in it. "Apocalypse" was the final straw. Most boring X movie ever.

Give the rights back to Marvel.

[TigerClaw]

Maybe its time for Fox to negotiate with Marvel Studios to colaborate on future X-Men movies, If it worked for Sony with Spider-Man, why not with X-Men?

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Maybe its time for Fox to negotiate with Marvel Studios to colaborate on future X-Men movies, If it worked for Sony with Spider-Man, why not with X-Men?

Because X-Men has yet to fail as hard as Spiderman.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Maybe its time for Fox to negotiate with Marvel Studios to colaborate on future X-Men movies, If it worked for Sony with Spider-Man, why not with X-Men?

X-Men is still a bit of a golden goose for Fox.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

X-Men is still a bit of a golden goose for Fox.

To be strictly accurate, Deadpool and Hugh Jackman are a golden goose for Fox.

[Cure]

Aw, this sucks. I wanted it to keep going. I like the last movies a lot.

[Andrew NDB]

Yeah, Fox really isn't in a place where they'd be even considering anything with Marvel. They've already almost undoubtedly given them Fantastic Four/Surfer/Galactus back... X-Men is all they have left.

If anything, we have Deadpool to thank for no kind of Fox/Marvel deal for the X-Men being in the cards for the foreseeable future. Had Deadpool flopped, Apocalypse did the same numbers Apocalypse did, and then the originally planned PG-13 Gambit flopped (it would have already been out by now, but Deadpool made them ground it when it looked weak by comparison)... that might have made Fox stop and wonder if some kind of deal with Marvel would really be so bad.

For Fox/Marvel talks to even begin to be on the table about X-Men, now...

* Deadpool 2 would need to bomb, or do way less than part 1.
* New Mutants needs to flop.
* Whatever "reset" X-Men core movie emerges needs to flop.

Gambit flopping after all of that would be the slam dunk to get talks going... but now we're talking like 5 years from now.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Yeah, Fox really isn't in a place where they'd be even considering anything with Marvel. They've already almost undoubtedly given them Fantastic Four/Surfer/Galactus back... X-Men is all they have left.

If anything, we have Deadpool to thank for no kind of Fox/Marvel deal for the X-Men being in the cards for the foreseeable future. Had Deadpool flopped, Apocalypse did the same numbers Apocalypse did, and then the originally planned PG-13 Gambit flopped (it would have already been out by now, but Deadpool made them ground it when it looked weak by comparison)... that might have made Fox stop and wonder if some kind of deal with Marvel would really be so bad.

For Fox/Marvel talks to even begin to be on the table about X-Men, now...

* Deadpool 2 would need to bomb, or do way less than part 1.
* New Mutants needs to flop.
* Whatever "reset" X-Men core movie emerges needs to flop.

Gambit flopping after all of that would be the slam dunk to get talks going... but now we're talking like 5 years from now.

Exactly.

Also, they just revealed that they're actively planning Deadpool 3, which will basically be X-Force.

[snake]

Well that's odd. I also thought DOFP was the reset button.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by snake

Well that's odd. I also thought DOFP was the reset button.

Hell, FIRST CLASS was supposed to be the reset button. But oh no, they just had to bring back Singer...