As Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox’s film and TV assets draws ever closer towards completion, X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner has confirmed the recent rumours that Fox’s various Marvel movie projects are now on hold.
“It’s all in Disney’s playground and they get to decide,” said Shuler Donner when asked about the status of projects such as Gambit (via Deadline). “Kevin Feige and I started the first movie, he worked for me, he has a great story sense when it comes to weaving each world together, I trust him and I trust where he will take it.”
In addition to Gambit, Fox had been developing a number of other potential Marvel properties, including Doctor Doom, Silver Surfer, Kitty Pryde and Multiple Man. Presumably, it will now also be down to Disney and Marvel as to whether they move ahead with the Deadpool spinoff X-Force, not to mention Deadpool 3, which Ryan Reynolds recently announced he was working on.
SEE ALSO: X-Men producer expects Kevin Feige to recast Wolverine for the MCU
Fox does already have two Marvel movies in the can (well, half in the can, in one case) in X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants. And, with reshoots on the latter yet to take place despite a scheduled August release, there has been talk that Fox/Disney could be looking to pull the Josh Boone-directed spinoff from its theatrical release and dump it straight to Hulu.
Shuler Donner appeared to confirm that this is being considered, although she said she is “hopeful” that New Mutants will hit cinemas: “They worked hard on it. I want to see it released (theatrically), I’d hate to see it thrown at Hulu.”
According to Deadline, it will be Disney that has the final say on The New Mutants, but with major reshoots planned (and in need of financing), it remains to be seen whether the House of Mouse would be willing to fund a salvage operation on a project that one would assume Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige have zero interest in.
Are you hopeful that we’ll get to see The New Mutants on the big screen? Do you expect Disney to move ahead with any of Fox’s other planned Marvel movies, or is the slate about to be wiped clean? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or tweet us @FlickeringMyth.
The New Mutants is directed by Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars), and features a cast includes Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane, Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) as Illyana Rasputin/Magik, Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) as Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why) as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot, Blu Hunt (The Originals) as Danielle Moonstar/Mirage and Alice Braga (Queen of the South) as Dr. Cecilia Reyes.
Originally published February 7, 2019. Updated March 11, 2019.
