Can Superheroes Save 20th Century Fox From Itself?
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Box Office, Fandom, 20th Century Fox, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Fox has not had a good year -- and as with most drama-filled issues, they really have only themselves to blame. Variety points out that they were the only studio this summer that didn't have a $100 million domestic earner. What they did have was a lot of widely-derided flops like The Happening, Space Chimps, and Meet Dave. They also had films that might have done well, had they chosen to actually sell them, like The X-Files: I Want to Believe. They were also dealt a bit of bad luck when it came to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was supposed to come out this summer, making it the greatest superhero year ever, but was delayed due to Hugh Jackman's commitment to Australia. (A film which the studio is really hoping bails them out come fall, along with Marley and Me.)Faced with so much failure and drama, what is a studio to do? Well, turn to superheroes, of course! As you read this, they're holding strategy meetings to dust off or create some new franchises off their comic book properties. They're looking at more X-Men spinoffs, including a young X-Men project that might just be X-Men First Class. They're also looking at giving Deadpool his own movie -- which seems a no-brainer when you have Ryan Reynolds playing him in Wolverine. Why, they're even looking at reviving Daredevil. (Frank Miller and Jason Statham, call on line two.) It's enough to wind up any Marvel fan.
Continued after the jump...
But then again, consider the trail of bodies Fox keeps leaving in their wake. The only thing stopping them from having their own The Dark Knight with any of their comic book properties is themselves, because the studio constantly sours its relationships with directors. Alex Proyas won't work with them again after I, Robot. Babylon A.D.'s director, Mathieu Kassovitz was very public about his rift with the studio. Wolverine has been rife with rumors too -- and now the scoop is that things were so bad between Fox and Gavin Hood that he was nearly fired. Two replacement directors actually waited in the wings before Richard Donner to fly out to Australia and smooth things over. Fox says this is because he's a producer on the film -- but it is actually his wife, Lauren Shuler Donner, who holds that proud credit.
And that's not even factoring in their duel with Warner Bros over Watchmen -- not only will the court costs be pricey, but it's reportedly causing fans to threaten a boycott of all their upcoming films. You know, I keep hearing about this, and haven't seen it for myself despite lurking on many a movie forum. A Google search reveals a few petitions and one or two threads on obscure forums -- has anyone actually come across such frenzied fanboys and girls? I honestly suspect it's the mainstream media sniggering at what they imagine to be Internet geekdom, or a scheme cooked up by a few brilliant Warner Bros' interns to scare Fox. (However, if they mess up Wolverine, I will personally lead the mob to their gates. Torches and pitchforks all around!)
Whew. That's a lot to take in, isn't it? I would honestly love to see more movies from the X-Men universe, and count me in for a Daredevil and Elektra reboot. There's massive potential for good films for any studio ... but then again, this is Fox we're talking about. Sound off below, readers.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-10-2008 @ 10:51AM
Pat Campbell said...
I honestly think that Fox should just give the rights back to Marvel so Marvel can make good movies out of their own properties. Then I think I could truly be happy knowing Fox isn't bastardizing anymore of my favorite Marvel characters. But, I did notice there isn't a mention of a third Fantastic Four, guess they arn't nearly as dumb as I originally thought...
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9-10-2008 @ 11:02AM
MDK said...
The solution for Fox is simple... fire that idiot Rothman!
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9-10-2008 @ 11:12AM
uforeader said...
Just for the record:
The Happening wasn't a flop. It had a budget of $60 mil and has grossed $162 mil at the box office. It had the second-largest June R-rated opening ever (only $.18 mil behind Knocked Up).
We can debate whether or not is was a good movie... but it wasn't a flop.
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9-10-2008 @ 3:29PM
Elisabeth said...
It had a splashy opening weekend, yes, and it cleared its budget, but it only took in $64.5 million. It's finally nearing $100 million with overseas sales. For a summer movie, helmed by a big name like M.Night Shyamalan, that's a flop.
9-10-2008 @ 11:30AM
kmh219 said...
What is it with Fox and pissing off directors? Not to mention they should give it up and leave Watchmen alone. Their legal claim is tenuous at best, outright ridiculous at worst, and is embarrassingly obvious money-grubbing. I theorize that they wouldn't even bother if they'd had a really successful movie this summer, but they're well behind where they want to be and are acting like jealous little kids. Advice for Fox: learn to promote your properties. Oh, and angry directors make bad movies.
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9-10-2008 @ 12:23PM
Beeslo said...
MDK said it already. If Fox wants to save themselves, they need to get rid of Rothman. That man shits over every franchise he touches. Daredevil? Check. X-Men? Check. Fantastic Four? Check. Aliens (including AvP)? Check.
Honestly, the man doesn't care about his product unless it makes him money, but what he doesn't understand for some reason is that if you crap on a franchise for long enough, it won't make money (ie Alien franchise).
Rothman really screwed the pooch with X3, in my opinion, when Singer didn't want to come back and when Matthew Vaughn quit. This idiot needs to realize that he is not an executive producer and that he just needs to let those who know what they are doing...actually do what they know. He just needs to sit at his desk and sign the checks.
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9-10-2008 @ 5:43PM
Hughman Bein said...
I agree. They need more people on hand from Marvel and they need to bring back intelligence to the pictures they produce. Not everything has to be as dark as Batman and not everything has to be as light as Superman. Respect the fans or I will definitely be signing a boycott. If you make a good movie, they will come. Keep it up Gavin! Dish it back! Also- Origin movies suck for everyone but Wolverine maybe. Mags needs like a Hannibal Lecter movie if it is WWII but otherwise don't do it. If you want $$ make Xmen 4 and have an Apocalypse trilogy. This would be easy if you had Rachel Grey and Cable. Xmen 5- The Search for Cyclops. Xmen 6- Phoenix Rising
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9-10-2008 @ 12:53PM
dukrous said...
I have no faith in Fox whatsoever. It's turned into a complete lack of caring for Wolverine. Honestly...I cannot care less. If I don't get free tickets to it, I almost certainly won't be seeing it. I'm voting with my wallet until Rothman gets the boot.
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9-10-2008 @ 1:43PM
pAT said...
I'll be joining that Fox boycott if Watchmen gets torpedoed. This movie has been talked about for over a decade and now that it's almost in the can, Fox decides to exercise some arbitrary bit of entertainment legal BS and block it's release. This is pettiness on a grand scale and the final straw for me.
I don't expect too many others to boycott Fox but for me it's simply a matter of voting with my wallet. I'm tired of seeing my favorite comic book characters ruined on the big screen and paying for it to boot.
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9-10-2008 @ 1:52PM
Janus said...
see the problem here is that fox is more focused (in my opinion) on tv nd has their movie company as a second in command. if only for their sake there was a way to bring american idol to the big screen *sigh*
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9-10-2008 @ 3:15PM
Juan Carlo said...
Oh my God, Fox... Is it Murdoch? Is it Rothman? WHat is it that th3ey have to control every... fucking... ASPECT of a movie? I'm watching WOLVERINE no matter what, but if they keep alienating directors it's gonna be hell for us fans. Please guys!
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9-10-2008 @ 4:41PM
Petro1734 said...
Deadpool movie !?!? Hell yes !
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9-12-2008 @ 9:22AM
ML said...
It's bad enough to be on bad terms with your employees, but these guys don't care about their customers either. Just when I was beginning to look forward to The Watchmen ... So there's talk of a boycott? I was planning on avoiding Fox films because of this anyway. Their claim? Warners "knew" about the problem all along. Oh really? Yes, they spent millions, knowing all along that there was a legal timebomb ticking away in their property. No, actually, it was Fox, who, like a comic book villain, lay in wait for just this opportunity. Not only that, they claim that they want to prevent fans (who don't care where the movie comes from!) from seeing it at all! (Or is it just spite?) I don't really believe that, but even telling fans that they want to hold back a highly-anticipated event shows a huge disregard for the people who butter their bread. That alone is reason enough to boycott them. The movies are an entertainment, not a necessity, Fox, maybe you should remember that.
Funny, I wouldn't even call myself THAT big of a Watchmen fan, but this sort of thing ticks me off ...
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9-11-2008 @ 12:28PM
Joe said...
I am not sure if Fox owns the rights still to Silver Surfer but if they do that is the movie Fox needs to make. Of course you will need Marvel on the project too. If Fox was to make a Silver Surfer movie it could be a great film. SS is in some ways a different Version of Superman just different hard to say how they are but power wise.
Fox needs to reboot the Fantasic Four movies to be like the real comics.
Also give people a new Xmen film spin-offs are nice but I want to see what you can do with that series.
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9-11-2008 @ 6:58PM
stephen said...
I wish that Marvel was able to take control of D.D and Fantastic Four. Fox totally ruined D.D. As for F.F., why do television casting directors do a better job than movie casting directors? The Thing was exactly as ought to be, Invisible Girl was acceptable, but Professor Reed was a wussy geek and not a mature,intelligent genius and The Torch was a goofball and not a hothead I.e., known to have a temper even though that is where the name was originally from. Please Marvel save us from worhtless hacks who only care for the almight dollar.
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11-15-2008 @ 6:13PM
Bob Anthony said...
There is no evidence that Fox has these problems right now. Sure, they go through a phase of bad movies, but this is hardly new. I have not heard of any problems with the Wolverine shoot aside from rumors. Nothing of this sort from more reliable sources have come out. Just rants from geekboy web-sites, but nothing from anything on the web that has reported more reliable news stories in the past.
There has also been no so called meetings at Fox to talk about more X-Men or superhero related movies. I think they are just doing Wolverine right now, and then we shall see.
Let's just wait and see shall we?!
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