Fox's X-Men Issues: Jennifer Lawrence Unsigned, 'Deadpool' Defections, 'Gambit' on Hold

[Bigbigguy]

A reboot of the diminishing mutant movie series is in the works as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine heads for retirement and a studio's $4 billion franchise sits in flux.

With the summer release of X-Men: Apocalypse behind it and a Deadpool sequel hitting a speed bump, 20th Century Fox is finding its superhero franchise at another type of X: a crossroads.

Fox has had movie rights to Marvel's X-Men characters since the 1990s, well before Marvel became its own studio and Fox ostensibly launched the modern comic book movie with 2000's X-Men. But now, after some highs, lows and one reset (2011's X-Men: First Class), there are signs of wear and tear on a franchise that has grossed more than $4 billion.

Apocalypse, directed by Bryan Singer, earned $544 million worldwide, a sharp drop from the $748 million made by previous entry X-Men: Days of Future Past. What's more, stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult have come to the end of their three-picture contracts. If new studio chairman Stacey Snider wants them to return, they won't come cheap. "You're gauged by the success of the franchise," says box-office analyst Paul Degarabedian. "This one didn't engender the love of previous movies. It's time to go back to the drawing board."

There are other signs of paint chipping as well. Fox's solidly performing Wolverine spinoff series winds down with Logan (March 3), which is meant to be the last of the Hugh Jackman-fronted movies. (The movie just released a trailer which insiders say was the most watched spot in the history of the X-Men franchise.) In addition, Gambit, a solo spinoff movie to star Channing Tatum, failed to start production this year as planned and in August lost its director, Doug Liman.

And in perhaps the most unexpected development, Deadpool director Tim Miller pulled out of the sequel Oct. 22 after feuding with star Ryan Reynolds. (His composer Tom Holkenborg soon followed.) Deadpool was a surprise massive hit ($782.6 million) in February, so the studio has moved quickly to fill the sequel's director chair, with John Wick's David Leitch now in negotiations. And in a sign of how much faith it has in the Reynolds-starring franchise, Fox already is planning Deadpool 3, readying a filmmaker search for a storyline that will involve another X-team, X-Force, say sources.

Elsewhere, the reset button has been pressed. Sources say the flagship series will be reconfigured, with Simon Kinberg, overseer of the franchise as producer and writer, working on a new script. Singer, who directed four X-Men movies, will not be returning, according to insiders, but the script is being written with Lawrence, Fassbender and McAvoy optimistically in mind.

And after being on hold as Tatum shot Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky, Gambit should move back into active development with a new filmmaker.

One of Fox's best hopes may be The New Mutants, a spinoff featuring superpowered teens with some overlap with the flagship X-Men. According to sources, director Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) could even begin rolling cameras by spring.

Fox's X-Men Issues: Jennifer Lawrence Unsigned, 'Deadpool' Defections, 'Gambit' on Hold

 

[Rekkapryde]

JLaw

 

[EnzoG]

Time to come home #marvel......

 

[Days of Future Piff]

They learned the wrong lesson from Deadpool. (It's very telling that they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to make it.) By now, they should have picked up on the fact that people actually want their CBM's faithful to the look, feel, and stories of the source material. Nobody's interested in seeing yet ANOTHER Struggle Games flick where Mystique is all of a sudden the leader just because she's played by somebody.

It's time for some actual costumes, comic-accurate storylines, and a new director with more passion for the source material. Just give us a hard reboot about the REAL X-men... please

 

[hayesc0]

Time to come home #marvel......

The delusion.

 

[Ironman]

Need to get Kinberg out of there too

 

[Ziggiy]

They need to let Fassbender, Mcavoy, and Lawrence go if their truly talking about rebooting. All three of them now are their own entities and come with MASSIVE price tags. They no longer can truly inhabit the roles as they've essentially grown passed them.

Really what they should do is let the main X-cast breath for awhile and focus on New Mutants, X-Force, Deadpool, and other spinoffs. Give the audience a film or two to actually miss Charles, Magneto, Mystique and Logan.

 

[Lefty Gunz]

Even though I'm a fan of the prequel trilogy (all 3 of them), First class should have been a reboot

 

[David_TheMan]

If I'm fox, looking at the cost, I cut a licensing deal with Marvel, where Fox gets 25% of gross revenue for every xmen and xmen associated flick and be done with it.
Guaranteed cash coming in, Marvel spends all their money in producing and you can cake on other projects.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

They learned the wrong lesson from Deadpool. (It's very telling that they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to make it.) By now, they should have picked up on the fact that people actually want their CBM's faithful to the look, feel, and stories of the source material. Nobody's interested in seeing yet ANOTHER Struggle Games flick where Mystique is all of a sudden the leader just because she's played by somebody.

It's time for some actual costumes, comic-accurate storylines, and a new director with more passion for the source material. Just give us a hard reboot about the REAL X-men... please

the above image made into a movie would be a dream come true, but in your opinion what team would you start with? this team or the original five?

i might even leave wolverine out of the first movie and wait for the sequel. that would be a big draw.

 

[AnonymityX1000]

They need to let Fassbender, Mcavoy, and Lawrence go if their truly talking about rebooting. All three of them now are their own entities and come with MASSIVE price tags. They no longer can truly inhabit the roles as they've essentially grown passed them.

Really what they should do is let the main X-cast breath for awhile and focus on New Mutants, X-Force, Deadpool, and other spinoffs. Give the audience a film or two to actually miss Charles, Magneto, Mystique and Logan.

I agree with this. Give X-Men a rest for a few years then come back all new.

 

[Brandeezy]

The Rock might as well announce Channing as Shazam now

 

[Days of Future Piff]

the above image made into a movie would be a dream come true, but in your opinion what team would you start with? this team or the original five?

i might even leave wolverine out of the first movie wait for the sequel. that would be a big draw.

That's really, really tough. I would be down for a movie starring the original five, but I could see a trilogy with the All-New-All-Different group working out.

For the first movie, I would start with the Orginal 5 in a flashback for the first ten minutes or so. Flash forward a few years as Cyclops and Prof. X recruit Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus. The heroes undergo training and go on a mission to rescue the OG X-men from Stephen Lang in his research facility, resulting in a huge battle against Sentinels at the end. At the end Jean makes the sacrifice play and comes back as the Phoenix.

For the second, I would introduce Lilandra. Magneto has stolen Shi'ar technology and is using it to fuel a doomsday device that will destroy all humans on earth. Lilandra needs the technology to save her people, the Shi'ar. This time around Phoenix is fully used to her new powers. Rogue (and maybe Gambit, just to satisfy the 90's babies) are added to the team. The X-men challenge Magneto and his brotherhood of evil mutants in the heart of his volcano base to save both the humans and the Shi'ar. In the end, Jason Wyngarde is revealed to be spying on Jean.

The third one would open in medias res, as they've been attacked multiple times by the Hellfire Club between movies and they rendezvous at Angel's home in New Mexico. The heroes infiltrate the Hellfire Club and battle the Inner Circle after Jean is turned against the group. They beat the Inner Circle, but Jean becomes Dark Phoenix and flies of on a rampage, like in the comics. Also like the comics, the final battle pits the X-men against the Imperial Guard (who want Jean executed). Jean sacrifices herself in the end. After her funeral, Kitty Pryde arrives at the X-mansion, having just received her acceptance letter to Xavier's home for the gifted.

EDIT: In this case with the Dark Phoenix Saga I'd also be cool with them going with the 90's cartoon version where no inhabited planets are destroyed and Jean lives in the end, if they plan on making more movies. I would either kill Jean off permanently here or just keep her alive for the rest of the series.

 

[Norrin Radd]

If Jennifer Lawrence and Katniss Mystique come back

 

[Jax]

who's the guy in the middle and dude above night crawler?