Fox Is Planning to Reboot the X-MEN Film Franchise Without Bryan Singer and Make DEADPOOL 3 with X-Force
Fox has had a solid run with their X-Men film franchise under the guidance of Bryan Singer, but it looks like they are looking to move on and try something different. A recent report from THR says that Fox sees "signs of wear and tear on a franchise." X-Men: Apocalypse didn't do as well as they had hoped. On top of that, Hugh Jackman is about to end his run as Wolverine with Logan and the contracts for Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Nicholas Hoult are up. If Fox wants them back they are going to have to fork over a lot of money to re-up their contracts.
Box-office analyst Paul Degarabedian told the site, "You're gauged by the success of the franchise. This one [X-Men: Apocalypse] didn't engender the love of previous movies. It's time to go back to the drawing board." It sounds like Fox understands this and is looking to really shake things up. THR goes on to report that Fox is looking to reboot the franchise... without Singer. They say:
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.
So even though Singer isn't expected to return, they are still hoping to reboot the franchise with Lawrence, Fassbender, and McAvoy. Only time will tell if that will happen. It'll be interesting to see how they plan to restart the franchise with or without these main cast members. I assume the new young versions of Cyclops, Jean, and Nightcrawler will return, but the report doesn't say anything about that.
The report goes on to say that Fox is also already planning Deadpool 3, and they are "readying a filmmaker search for a storyline that will involve another X-team, X-Force." The studio still hasn't officially announced a director for Deadpool 2 since Tim Miller dropped out, but David Leitch (John Wick), Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods, Daredevil), and Magnus Martens (Luke Cage) have all been mentioned as possibilities.
It's kind of cool to hear that Deadpool will help launch the X-Force franchise. I wonder if that means director Jeff Wadlow's X-Force film project is going to be shelved to make room for these possible new plans. Fox has also been developing a Gambit film and a New Mutants film, and I have no idea what the fate of those projects will be.
It sounds like Fox has some big decisions to make, and I'm curious to see what they end up doing. What would you like to see Fox do with the X-Men franchise?