The Fantastic Four in the MCU already cast?

Posted by Jeff Labels: ,

The other day Marvel Comics released the latest re-imagination of Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.   The new version of Reed Richards either looks like Jimmy Kimmel or John Krasinski. 

Comic book fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have long for John Krasinski to take on the part Reed Richards for the past couple of years.    Is the redone comic book character a hint that the deal is done?

Over the years many Marvel characters have been updated and changed, I mean we have had 60 years with some of these characters.  New artists, new spin on the characters.  But this change is clearly made to look like what a potential John Krasinski's portrayal would be.   is this Marvel saying we hear you and here is an example or is this we got him moment.

As I look at the upcoming movie release schedule, we have Black Widow solo film and The Eternals upcoming.    The more I though about it I was convinced that we will see the Fantastic Four in the Eternals, it just makes sense.    It also makes sense when you throw in the fact I believe the next five year story arc will be Secret Wars.

With that and looking at who has been connected with Marvel roles recently I believe the casting has been made for the entire Fantastic Four team, and they will be announced this summer.

Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic - John Krasinski
Sue Storm (Richards) / Invisible Woman - Charlize Theron
Ben Grimm / The Thing - Dwayne Johnson
Johnny Storm / The Human Torch - Zac Efron

and we need a villain

Doctor Doom - Brian Cranston

A quick comment.   Emily Blunt, the wife of John Krasinski in real life, has been offered numerous roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has turned them all down.   I have no doubt that if John Krasinski was offered the role of Reed Richards than Marvel Executives would have offered the role of Sue Storm to Emily Blunt.    However she has a pretty full dance card of upcoming movies and with the history of turning down superhero roles I think it is semi-safe to say she turned down the role again. 
Charlize Theron, Oscar Winner for Monster, highly acclaimed for her action/stunts in the role of Lorrine Broughton in Atomic Blonde has suddenly become a hot topic again in Hollywood. 

Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron have been frequently linked to roles in the Marvel Universe, both have reportedly meet again very recently with Kevin Feige and other Marvel Studio executives.    Fans have suggested that Zac Efron would make a great Adam Warlock, I think he would make a better Johnny Storm. 

Another name for role of Johnny Storm, Andrew Garfield.

Disney - Comcast come to an agreement on Hulu

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Effective immediately Disney will take full control of streaming service Hulu.

The deal allows Comcast (NBC/Universal) content licensing to lapse in three years, allows comcast to move forward with its own Streaming Service and has an option to sell its share of Hulu to Disney for at least $27.5 Billion dollars.

The control of Hulu allows Disney to move its "less family friendly" oriented content to hulu while leaving Disney+ as a more family oriented streaming service.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/comcast-has-agreed-to-sell-its-stake-in-hulu-in-5-years.html

The Mummy, Honest trailer

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Disney Updates the Marvel Release Schedule

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After the completion of the purchase of 20th Century Fox Disney announced the updated release schedule for films under the Marvel Banner, including Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox.


2019
June 7 - X-Men: Dark Phoenix
July 5 - Spider-Man: Far From Home
2020
April 3 - X-Men: New Mutants
May 1 - Untitled Marvel Studios
October 2 - Untitled Sony Marvel Sequel
November 6 - Untitled Marvel Studios
2021
February 12 - Untitled Marvel Studios
May 7 - Untitled Marvel Studios
November 5 - Untitled Marvel Studios
2022
February 18 - Untitled Marvel Studios
May 6 - Untitled Marvel Studios
July  29 - Untitled Marvel Studios

Announced with no dates attached
Black Panther 2
Black Widow
Doctor Strange Sequel
The Eternals
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume III
Ms. Marvel
Shang-Chi
Deadpool 3 / X-Force
Logan Spin Off - X-Men
Mystique - X-Men

Canceled
Gambit
Untitled Fox Marvel - June 26, 2020
Untitled Fox Marvel - October 2, 2020
Untitled Fox Marvel - March 5, 2021

Commentary
New Mutants date was shifted?  It was long rumored that New Mutant would be shifted to a direct to Video release, possible a Hulu Movie.  But shifting it to a position that isn't necessarily a dead weekend in the box office, and directly against an announced DC Film, but not a prime Marvel Film weekend is interesting.    The film is scheduled to get further reshoots later this year.   Is Kevin Fiege involved?   Something is up here.


The oft delayed Gambit, which was supposed to go into production this summer, but currently does not have a director attached has been indefinitely delayed, Not Canceled.   Normally indefinitely delayed does mean canceled, but Disney has officially canceled a few 20th Century movies in development.  So why is this one indefinitely delayed instead?   Gambit, like Deadpool is film that should be in the R-Rated space, as the character is a gambler womanizer and adult oriented humor.   Could it be that Disney wants to revisit after deciding what to do with Deadpool and Blade?

Three films that are not canceled from the Fox list, Deadpool 3 (X-Force), the Logan (Wolverine) Spin-Off starring Daphne Keen as Laura/X-23, and the Mystique standalone film.
The Deadpool film is easy to understand but the other two are interesting in the fact that they were announced during the acquisition and their status was not addressed in the press release. 

Where are the problems.
The sequel to Captain Marvel has not been announced is not on the list, but it has to go somewhere.  What about Ant-Man and the Wasp sequel?

Currently Marvel Studios has three movies in preproduction that are prepared to go to filming.   The Black Widow standalone movie, The Eternals and Shang-Chi.
The other announced films are currently also in preproduction but do to scheduling and other requirements not ready to go to filming stage. 

  • Black Panther sequel - Not on anyones schedule until mid-late 2020 for filming.
  • Doctor Strange sequel - Benedict Cumberbatch schedule is full until 2021.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, is slated to be filmed after James Gunn finishes filming Suicide Squad for DC Studios.  
  • Ms. Marvel - No one is attached to any major points.
The only film that can slot into the February 12, 2021 date is Deadpool 3 (aka X-Force).  

If we start slotting Films in the release schedule:
2019
June 7 - X-Men: Dark Phoenix
July 5 - Spider-Man: Far From Home
2020
April 3 - X-Men: New Mutants
May 1 - Black Widow Standalone
October 2 - The Eternals
November 6 - Shang-Chi
2021
February 12 - Deadpool 3 (X-Force)
May 7 - Captain Marvel II
November 5 - Ms Marvel
2022
February 18 - Ant-Man and the Wasp sequel
May 6 - Black Panther sequel
July  29 - Guardians of the Galaxy Volume III

This leaves both the X-Men sequels (Mystique and X-23) off the list as well as one MCU announced film, in my case I left Doctor Strange sequel but it could be Ant-Man and the Wasp.  The reason I left Doctor Strange off the list is because with film not planned until begin filming until mid 2021 can it be ready by 2022? 
If the two X-Men films are being left off the list why were they not indefinitely delayed or canceled?


The question is what happens in 2023?
Why are no films announced for 2023? 
April 28th would be the logical release date for the next Avengers film.     February 10th the weekend before the Presidents Day weekend has a live action Disney movie listed for a release date.   That creates a challenge to build hype in the way the Black Panther and Captain Marvel lead into the last two Avengers film.   Do you drop a film there?

This leads me to believe that one of the following things is true:

  • One of the movies that Marvel has announced (or not Announced but we all know is coming) is further along in development than we know so it can be slotted in the February 12th 2021 release date.   
  • There is another unannounced movie in the works (Avengers).
  • The next Avengers Film is released in 2024
  • There is an X-Men film planned for 2023.

Edit:
I should note the above list does not include a Spider-Man sequel (third) movie.   As of today neither Sony nor Disney have announced any movement on the Spider-man film rights. 
There is a slot on for a movie release on July 1st, 2021 for Spider-Man in the calendar.



Spider-Man: Far from Home Trailer

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Amy Pascal - New First look Deal with Universal

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Steve Grantz - Getty Images
When Amy Pascal stepped down as Chairperson of Sony Pictures Entertainment she set up a film Studio, Pascal Pictures, and signed a four year agreement that gave SPE first look rights to her films.   As that contract expired Pascal Pictures signed a new contract with rival Universal Studios.    

Amy Pascal and Pascal Pictures are not completely leaving the SPE fold as they will continue to produce and make Marvel Films and TV shows.   

As stated by Tom Rothman, Chairperson SPE, “Everyone at Sony Pictures, myself first among us, loves Amy. We are profoundly grateful for all her immeasurable contributions, both current and past, to our success. And the great news for us is that our partnership will continue for many years to come with her ongoing work on Spider-Man and other key titles. We are very happy for her.”  

For the moment I do not believe this will have any affect on the situation involving the Spider-Man IP rights that are currently controlled by Sony Pictures Entertainment.  However it MAY BE a precursor to the power struggle between an Activist Investor and Sony Corporation on the fate of Sony Entertainment, which includes SPE. 

Does the success of Avengers: Endgame change the dynamic with Sony and Universal

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The short answer is no, or rather not at the moment.

The long answer is complicated.

Sony Corporation looked at selling all or parts of Sony Entertainment for the better part of 18 months, when it became apparent that there were no viable buyers willing to spend what Sony considered an appropriate amount of money for any segment of the business it decided to move on.  
As an aside a little birdie tells me there is still an interested party, but not for the entirety of Sony Picture Entertainment, but with no one willing to step up for the other segments of the business its looking like a non-starter.
Recently activist investor Dan Loeb, with the backing of his hedge fund, has been purchasing stock in Sony Corporation; the parent company to Sony Entertainment.    Dan Loeb is vocal in his plan to divest (sell/spin off) aspects of Sony Corporation to increase shareholder value.   As of April 20th his hedge fund was the largest single shareholder of Sony Corporation at 6%.   Dan Loeb's plan calls for selling Sony Entertainment or spin it off as a new corporation separate from Sony, using the sale of the company (and or stock) to further fund the electronics segment of Sony Corporation.  

Sony Entertainment is made of four distinct subsidiaries, Sony Pictures, Sony Television, Sony Music, and Sony Music Publishing.  There is clearly not a buyer for the Sony Entertainment as a whole, but could Two or three of the subsidiaries be sold and the fourth spun off?

The other aspect of activist investors it puts increased pressure on the individual parts to be profitable, an asset rather than a liability as a whole.   In calendar year 2019 Sony Pictures and Sony Television were profitable, I am not sure about the music side of the house.   There is now pressure on those units to continue to be profitable, they cannot revert back into being a liability.    

Here is a date to remember, Jun 18th 2019, Sony's next general stockholders meeting and vote to confirm the new board of directors, Dan Loeb is not currently a member.    During general stockholder's meetings is when activist investors push their strategy.   If Dan Loeb has enough support that when it will take place.


As indicated in Calendar year 2017 and 2018 Sony Pictures was profitable, even with a number of sub par box office performances, leading the way was Jumanji, Peter Rabbit, Hotel Transylvania 3, The Equalizer 2, as well as the Marvel Titles of Spider-Man Homecoming, Venom, and Into the Spider-verse.   For Sony the problem with the Marvel titles is their profitability in comparison to their cost.   Does Sony invest $200 Million (spread out over 24 months) to make $50 million in net profit in return?   

As I have indicated previously Sony has put all their chips on the table and is waiting for anyone, well at least Marvel Studios (Disney) to do something.   

Avengers: Endgame was the conclusion of Phase 3 (The Infinity Stones) storyline of Marvel Studios, while we have some idea of what comes next (cough Secret Invasion cough probably maybe).   We also know that Avengers: Endgame will be extremely profitable, as it generated 550 million in revenue for Marvel Studios on $500 million dollar total budget in its first seven days of release.   It's likely the film will generate another $500 million dollars profit for Marvel Studios.   

In the end I believe the success of Avengers: Endgame puts more pressure on Sony to act.  Financially I know the bean counters at Sony would tell you it's better to pull out of the deal (not renegotiate) the deal with Marvel Studios but it would be a PR nightmare, potentially sinking one or two movie before recovering.   Is Sony ready for that PR nightmare?

I would not be shocked to hear more rumors that Sony and Marvel are discussing a sale of the Marvel Properties (including Men in Black) during mid to late summer as Dan Loeb's supporters become more agitated.   However until Dan Loeb or another activist investor gets enough shareholder support a sale is not going to happen.

My view is Sony will begrudgingly agree to a new crossover deal with Marvel and Marvel will get more creative control of the live action Spider-Man universe allowing all of the Sony Spider-Man universe characters to be in the shared MCU universe.


Universal Pictures
Universal still has the rights to release movies with the Incredible Hulk and Namor.   Hasn't changed as their agreement doesn't have similar clauses requiring Movies be in active production.   
Universal Pictures is owned by NBCUniversal which is owned by Comcast.   To put it bluntly the CEO of Comcast, Brian Roberts and the CEO of Disney, Dave Iger, don't like each other and have actively competed against one another on numerous fronts over the past decade.

In 2019 Disney sold Comcast their share of Sky Network and NBCUniversal is working with Disney to sell NBCUniversal share of HULU streaming service to Disney.   That is something that a year ago I would not believe to have been possible.    It's like a earthquake along the coast of Africa that everyone has been waiting for.

I am guessing their is an expanded agreement in place allowing the use of not only Hulk and the associated characters in his IP to be used by Disney, but a further agreement for Namor to be used as well.    The real question is Disney writing NBCUniversal a check to take the rights back or is it just an expanded use agreement?