Is 20th Century Fox going to cancel ‘Fantastic Four 2’?
If you haven’t heard, the reboot of ‘Fantastic Four’ is an absolute failure. Critically, Fox’s second attempt at creating a major superhero franchise out of ‘Fantastic Four’ has failed. In fact, ‘Fantastic Four’ is the lowest scored Marvel movie on Rotten Tomatoes, and financially Fox may not even break even after investing millions into the ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot.
With critics, fans, and investors all working against ‘Fantastic Four, what is next for the ‘Fantastic Four’ film franchise and more importantly, will we see a ‘Fantastic Four 2’?
Fox currently has three Marvel-branded movies releasing in 2016, X-Men Apocalypse, Deadpool and Gambit followed by the untitled Wolverine 3 and Fantastic Four 2 in 2017 and an unannounced X-Men feature film in 2018.
With production and marketing buzzing for ‘Deadpool,’ I would expect 20th Century Fox to focus more on Ryan Reynolds’ superhero character than Miles Teller’s ‘Fantastic Four’.
If ‘Deadpool’ is a hit in the  box office, a sequel is garunteed. We know that ‘Deadpool’ screenwriters already have ideas for a sequel, and that everyone involved is exciting to keep the Deadpool adventures rolling.
‘Fantastic Four 2’ might not be released by 2017 and Fox does not have any plans on crossing over ‘Deadpool’ or the X-Men franchise to save the ‘Fantastic Four’ franchise.
Whether Fox plans to keep the June 9, 2017 release date for ‘Fantastic Four 2’ or replace it with something else, 20th Century Fox needs to make decisions soon so expect more news in the near future. As for the film rights to the Fantastic Four franchise, Marvel fans will definitely want to see the comic book franchise back with Marvel. But, Fox retains the rights until 2024 unless a major deal shapes out.
Fantastic Four is now in theaters. Deadpool opens February 12, 2016, X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27, 2016, Gambit on October 7, 2016, and Wolverine 3 on March 3, 2017.
Fantastic Four 2 is expected to hit theaters on June 9, 2017; and some as-yet unspecified X-Men film on July 13, 2018.
