Fox to Reboot Fantastic Four

Posted on August 31, 2009

Fox has decided to reboot The Fantastic Four film franchise. Variety reports that Akiva Goldsman has been hired to oversee the project as its producer. Michael Green (Heroes) will write the screenplay.

The 2005 "Fantastic Four" and 2007 sequel "Rise of the Silver Surfer" were directed by Tim Story and starred Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. Since the deals for the reboot are just getting made, it is unclear if any of them will return.

Though Marvel Entertainment owns and finances properties like "Iron Man" and "Thor," Fox controls "Fantastic Four" in perpetuity -- as long as it continues making the films. Fox has the same arrangement on Marvel Comics properties "X-Men," "Daredevil" and "Silver Surfer." Marvel is a producer and financial participant through a licensing agreement.

Though the related Silver Surfer character soared in the "Fantastic Four" sequel, that iconic personality has remained a priority project for his own film at the studio.

This is a bit confusing. It seems a bit soon for a total reboot of the franchise with all new characters. Now that Disney has bought Marvel for $4 billion, we expect there will be quite a bit of scrambling to bring more comic book franchises to the screen.

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