A Geeky Viewpoint

Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg are making the rounds promoting X-Men; Apocalypse which is being released next week, took some time to answer some questions about other films in the X-Men universe.

When asked about the possibility of X-23 replacing Wolverine in future films by Fandango Bryan Singer responded.

"I have discussed that  with the studio, I actually initially pitched the X-Force and the female."

"Anytime you throw all these characters together to hit a start date, it can make a lot of money, but it can also be a cluster$%#^. To me, it has to be done with a lot of care. These things can get overwhelming, and if a character doesn’t belong in a movie, don’t use him. If the tone can still maintain itself, I’m all for it. What I’m not for is throwing a bunch of characters together and hoping it works.” 

I was a little shocked to hear that another Fantastic Four script is being looked at and or considered by 20th Century Fox.

Okay shocked is not the correct term as per the contact 20th Century Fox has to have another film in production in the near future (dates vary by source from 2017 to 2019) or the IP is turned over to Marvel Enterprises.

But why now?
The last film was a total flop, IF 20th Century Fox thinks they can make more money selling the IP back to Marvel getting something moving will actually force Marvel to move forward rather than sit back and wait.   It is a typical business position to attempt to force you partner to move first.  

What's the IP Worth?
That is an interesting question, while I don't have an exact amount I'd guess somewhere between $250 Million and $500 Million right now to Marvel.    No one else would pay that amount but Marvel might under the right circumstances.

Why is it worth so much to Marvel Studios?
One word - Villains. 
Marvel Studios now controls the IP for many Super-Heroes, the story on Villians is another story.   Most of the space based Villains belong to the Fantastic Four IP, including the likes to Galactus and Doctor Doom.   Many of the street level villains belong to the Spider-Man IP and X-Men has a long list of villains in their IP.

When could we see public activity?
I would be shocked if third parties haven't acted as go between at a minimum in this situation so far, but direct talks might not be out of the question either.  

So what is this new script you are talking about?
I don't know when this script was originally written or how official it is and there is lots of issue with its validity in the first place.   It could simply be a interweb rumor/hoax (not that it would be a first) nor the even the first I liked.   None the less.  

The potentially new script is a soft reboot of the 2005/2007 films as opposed to a hard reboot like the 2015 film.    Being a soft reboot it is not an origin story, the Fantastic Four have their powers to begin with.   It also means that events in the first two film kind of happened.   They may not focus on them, but there is no denying what did happen.   In the same family as the soft reboot with Incredible Hulk (2008) to Hulk (2003).

My feelings?
I this point I have to think this is more of a ploy to increase the value of the IP and force Marvel's hand than to actually make another movie.   I thought that before and we got Fantastic Four 2015, so I guess anything is possible.
     

X-Men: Apocalypse opens on May 27, lets take a quick look at expectations in the Box Office.

It needs to be noted the film opens on Memorial Day Weekend, a four day weekend which makes predications a bit fickle as it generally messes with comparable films.

Comparable films open between $86 M and $121 M with an average of $97 M for the three day weekends and $115 for a four day weekend.

The film is opening against Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter which is not a direct competitor but very close competitor when it comes to market share.

The film had solid hype and was well received in the early stages of production however concerns on the look of Apocalypse seem to stall the hype machine for extended periods of time.    Initial reviews where pretty negative, on May 5 the first wave of reviews on rottentomatoes.com put the film at 38 and metacritic at 44.   However subsequent reviews have been much better on May 14th the score on rottentomates.com had increased to 58 and metacritic to 51, which is a fairly substantial jump for both considering the number of reviews.  
What is more interesting is the current scoring of audience reviews, the film is actually the highest rated film in the Franchise.   Yes it is early, but the film is tracking about 5% higher in early fan reviews than it predecessors at this same juncture.

An interesting side note, the length of the film has changed.   On May 1st the film was listed as 2 hours 16 Minutes, in the past few days many sites now list the movie as 2 hours 24 minutes.   It leaves the question on whether all reviewers saw the same cut of the film.

X-Men franchise saw new life with the release of Deadpool earlier this year.   The irreverent R-Rated film set a new standard with $132.4M opening weekend.    Many of suggested a potential Deadpool bump similar to the Avengers bump that all the Marvel films saw.

Four day Memorial day Weekends generate between $215M and $320 M dollars when adjusted for inflation.   Two tent poles released on the same Memorial Day Weekend the numbers are from $275 to $320 M.   If we assume the standard 70% for the tent poles this gives us a $192 M to $225 M for the films.   That in theory suggests $115 M to $135 M on the four day for X-Men on the four day and $93 to $109 M on the three day.

However I think competition on opening weekend and potential holdovers push the numbers down domestically.  

$87 M Opening Weekend ($110M Four Day)
$217 M Domestic Total
$570 M International Total
$787 M World Wide.

In news broke by the Hollywood Reporter, Michael B. Jordan is in talks with Marvel Studios to join the cast of Black Panther.

Black Panther directed by Ryan Coogler from a screen play by Joe Robert cole would reunite Michael B. Jordan and Coogler again, previously they worked together on Creed (2015) and Fruitvale  Station (2013).

Chadwick Boseman is set to reprise his role as T'Challa/Black Panther for Marvel Studios with Lupita Nyong'o also in negotions to play T'Challa love interest in the film.   Andy Serkis has long been rumored to play Ulysses Klaue/Klaw reprising his role for 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Michael B. Jordan played Johnny Storm in the 2015 Fantastic Four film released by 20th Century Fox.   He is the second Human Torch to make a move to Marvel Studios from 20th Century Fox.  Chris Evans starring in the 2005 and 2007 Fantastic Four films before becoming Steve Rogers / Captain America.

As an interesting side note Black Panther and The Human Torch (Johnny Storm) are more like enemies than friends in the comics for extended period of time.     This would be an interesting way to merge the multiverse.

All kidding aside there are several parts Michael B. Jordan could be considered for; White Wolf, Death Tiger and American Panther come to mind.

SuperGirl is moving to the CW, Agent Carter has been cancelled, Marvel's Most Wanted didn't get picked up, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was picked up early as the CW renews Arrow, Flash and DC Legends of Tomorrow.

CBS
The audience for CBS skews older than any other TV station is America.   The average age of the typical viewer is a tad under 60.   CBS green light Supergirl last year in hopes of drawing a younger audience.   In a compromise Supergirl was actually a crime procedural show with a Comic Book character lead.   You know what they say about compromises?
SuperGirl actually was the most watched new Drama on TV; however its viewership numbers never came close to matching the existing dramas on CBS.   While the Audience skewed younger for SuperGirl, the older audience turned off their TVs. 
CBS renewed SuperGirl however it moved the show to its sister station the CW.   The expectations is the SuperGirl will continue to draw similar audience numbers and free up a valuable time slot on CBS for a show that more matches the demographics of its audience.

CW
Arrow, and the Flash were renewed fairly early this season leaving the question of whether or not DC Legends of Tomorrow would be renewed.     It was renewed as well about a week or two ago.   With SuperGirl transitioning from CBS to CW there are four DC Comic products on CW this coming season, too many, too early to tell.

NBC
With Heroes Reborn cancelled and little else that qualifies as Sci-Fi/Comic Book/ Fantasy on the channel not much to discuss.   At some point an in depth look at SyFy Channel's shows may be do, but this is not that time.

ABC
In a minor shock ABC cancelled Agent Carter and decided against picking up Marvel's Most Wanted, while renewing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fairly early.
Agent Carter had low ratings which normally is an easy indicator on the forthcoming cancellation of TV Show; however the show had a female lead (Haley Atwell) which is unusual in its own right, but also had a female show runners (Tara Butters) which is so unusual these days that it is one of a small handful of shows that have both.   ABC has been attempting to promote itself is very diverse and suddenly the show that qualifies as being diverse is on the cutting block.   It was obviously not enough to change the shows fate.
The rumors over the past week indicated that Marvel's Most Wanted was not going to be picked up.   Initially I was caught off guard as this was a show that ABC had pushed for.  The show starring Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood (reprising their roles form Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.) had the two ex-spies/agents working against another global conspiracy with a slightly darker point of view that Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. It will be interesting to hear what happened and why a promising project failed since the pilot was green lighted.

ABC still has thee additional Marvel shows in development but little is known for sure on these three projects.

On Freeform (formerly ABC Family) Cloak & Dagger is in production for a January debut.

Even though Agent Carter was cancelled by ABC yesterday it is very likely that a third (and potentially more) will be filmed and aired on a streaming service.    Netflix is rumored to have approached ABC and Marvel Studios as far back as January on taking over the show.    Season 1 of Agent Carter airs on Amazon Prime under an exclusive agreement between Amazon and Marvel.    Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and three additional Marvel TV shows air on Netflix.

It is assumed that Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood will be returning to Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. as both were highly like by the viewers.  

Marvel Studios
There three additional projects in production.  Hellfire Club and Legion are X-Men universe projects that will air on Fox and FX in the 2017 time frame.    Empire of the Dead is a limited edition comic being developed into a TV series by AMC.

Box Office Mojo has reported on some announced release date changes.

An untitled DC Movie was moved from 2020 June 19 back a month to July 24th.   The movie is expected to be Green Lantern feature film.