It was always an ambitious move, setting a release date for Fantastic Four 2 prior to the release of the first movie, and given the abysmal box office performance and reception for the Josh Trank-directed reboot, it’s one that has truly backfired on 20th Century Fox.
Despite talk from Simon Kinberg that Fox is “figuring out” how to proceed with the franchise, it will come as no surprise to anyone that the studio has now quietly removed the sequel from its upcoming slate, with Box Office Mojo noting that the film’s planned release date of June 9th 2017 has disappeared.
Constantin Film – the rights holders to the Fantastic Four – has a deal with Marvel that stipulates they continue to make movies based around the foursome to avoid the rights to the characters reverting back to Marvel, although they do have until 2022 to get another movie into production.
Check out our new Fantastic Four themed podcast The Fantasticast using the player below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=zo9wUtSEME8
Originally published November 24, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
