X-Men and Fantastic Four Are Coming Back! Now Give Them A Proper Welcome!
You’ve probably heard the news. The X-Men and the Fantastic Four are finally going to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Yeah that’s right! Shareholders of 21st Century Fox and Disney have voted to approve Disney’s $71.3 billion buyout of major Fox assets, and that means that this move will likely give big monopoly on the box office and on TV.
And what does this move means to the reunited X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises? Well, things are headed for the best for both of them, I think.
There are two nearly finished films, Dark Phoenix and New Mutants, that will hit theaters well before the Disney and Fox deal finally closes in mid-2019, and don’t worry Marvel fans… the X-Men movies are not being canned, despite what was written about them. And after the disastrous chaos the was X-Men Apocalypse back in 2016, I hope better days do come for these characters.
The release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, is expected in February and August respectively, and despite some reports of cancellation, the re-shoots for X-Men: Dark Phoenix are expected to start next month.
The New Mutants however is rumored to be getting more substantial changes, possibly including the addition of an entirely new character, and I’d very much like to find out who that is and what these changes will bring to the table. X-Men: Dark Phoenix is scheduled to hit theaters on February 14, 2019. The New Mutants will premiere August 2, 2019.
And how about Fantastic Four? Well, I hope this merger will finally inspire Disney to make a decent F4 movie. The 2005 Fantastic Four and the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer were commercially successful, but failed to earn praise with the critics, while the 2015 reboot was panned by the critics and did poorly on the box office despite having a promising cast and young/talented director.
Having all that in mind, the fans are hoping for better times for these franchises and of course better movies. Which might happen now that Marvel/Disney will be involved with the production process. Time will tell, where F4 and X-Men will fit in the Marvel schedule and whether or not they’ll be given a proper welcome by the studios. I hope so quite frankly.
