It's obvious that superhero films have become all the rage in Hollywood over the last couple years with the genre dominating the box office, but that doesn't mean every single comic book film is going to be a hit. In fact, it doesn't even guarantee that a comic book movie will be halfway decent.
Earlier this year, Fox released their rebooted version of "Fantastic Four" with the hope of getting into the shared universe game to compete with Marvel and DC. The goal was to establish a new "Fantastic Four" franchise that could eventually crossover with their X-Men Universe.
Unfortunately for them, Josh Trank's reboot was met with widespread criticism (10 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and laughable box office returns ($167 million worldwide). Suddenly, green lighting a sequel for June 9, 2017 before the first film had seen the light of day looked like a very poor decision.
But Fox appears to be remedying that situation. Comicbook.com is reporting that the studio has officially removed the planned "Fantastic Four" follow-up from their release schedule. While this could be a stalling tactic as Fox pushes the film to a later date, it seems more likely that the studio is cutting their losses and scrapping the plan completely.
Marvel loyalists will surely point to this failure as yet another reason why Fox should work out a deal with Marvel that allows the Fantastic Four characters to join the MCU. Sony and Marvel reached a similar agreement for Spider-Man earlier this year and the character will make his MCU debut in "Captain America: Civil War."
Will Fox and Marvel do the same? Fox's bottom line has been helped by the financial success of the "X-Men" franchise and with "X-Men: Apocalypse" right around the corner it's not as if they are desperate. But after three failed attempts to do the Fantastic Four justice, it may be time to try a new approach.
We'll keep you updated with any relevant information that becomes available.
