Well, it’s not been a good weekend for Fantastic Four. The troubled production of Josh Trank’s latest adaptation of the comic book has been rather public, with the director tweeting his displeasure, Fox saying it was his fault and sources saying Fox cut scenes from the movie and kept him out of the editing bay. There was even news that the proposed sequel (announced before the film bombed at the box office) is going to be replaced with Deadpool 2.
But if you were wondering if Marvel could ever get Fantastic Four back now that the franchise is on the rocks (like they did with The Hulk, Punisher, Thor and Daredevil), then you may be waiting some time.
Whenever a property is sold to a studio, they are given a certain amount of time to announce a movie and go into production before the rights go back to the original seller. For example, Fox had ten years to announce a new Daredevil movie following the Ben Affleck film, but couldn’t get a movie into production and therefore the rights went back to Marvel. This is why Roger Corman made his very inexpensive version of Fantastic Four back in 1994 (which he never intended to release) and some feel that’s why we got Trank’s version of the film. The last Fantastic Four movie, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, was released in 2007, which meant Fox used every last part of their seven-year lease before announcing the movie in 2014 for release in 2015.
So if Fox do scrap plans for Fantastic Four 2 as rumoured, Marvel will not be able to get their property back until at least 2022/2023. That is, unless, Fox announces another reboot/sequel to the franchise at some point in that time period, and therefore the clock will reset again. Which means we won’t be seeing Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben hanging out with The Avengers until at least Phase Four or Five.
SEE ALSO: Read our reviews here and here.
Fantastic Four sees Josh Trank (Chronicle) directing a cast that includes Miles Teller (Whiplash) as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Kate Mara (House of Cards) as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, Jamie Bell (Nymphomaniac) as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) as Doctor Doom, Reg E. Cathey (House of Cards) as Dr. Storm, and Tim Blake Nelson (The Incredible Hulk) as Harvey Elder/Mole Man. Listen to the Flickering Myth Podcast review of the movie using the player below:
Originally published August 10, 2015. Updated July 2, 2023.
