I’m starting to wonder whether there’s something very wrong with Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four movie. It’s just been revealed that Marvel has hired Avatar: The Way Of Water scriptwriter Josh Friedman to rewrite Fantastic Four’s script.
This project has seemingly been in ‘development Hell’ for quite some time now, and it feels as though Marvel just cannot get it right. The movie was originally going to be directed by Jon Watts – a good choice in my book.
He directed the hugely successful and popular Spider-Man movies for Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios. He made Spider-Man: Homecoming, Far From Home and No Way Home. He was then going to make the Fantastic Four film for Marvel, but he ended up dropping out due to “creative differences”… whatever that means…
Fantastic Four now has Avatar 2’s writer penning the script
Credit: Marvel Comics
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So, Marvel Studios then hired WandaVision director, Matt Shakman to direct the project. He did very well with the WandaVision series, and it seemed like the project was in good and safe hands.
However, since he was hired, it seems as though the project was brought straight back to square one. We were informed that the reason why Watts left the project was because he and Marvel’s President, Kevin Feige, just couldn’t agree on what the film’s story should be.
We were told that Watts wanted to make an origin story about the team. However, the higher-ups at Marvel didn’t agree and wanted to cast more established actors in the roles and have them already have their powers and be a team.
We still don’t know who they’ve cast in the roles. However, it does seem as though Marvel is going to blend the two ideas together and have the Fantastic Four be a younger team, but they will already have their powers before the movie starts. So, this means that the movie won’t be an origin story.
The script seems to be in a constant state of flux
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At least, this is what we are hearing is the case. That said, the movie’s script seems to be in a constant state of flux. It’s no secret to say that Marvel needs this movie to succeed because it will be the future of the MCU as a franchise.
The Fantastic Four will be key if the franchise is to stay alive and keep on making huge sums of money. Audiences need to react positively to the team. I see it, and I think Marvel does also, as a make-or-break moment for the MCU’s longevity.
The movie’s first script had been written by Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. It’s being reported that Friedman’s hire, “signals a potential change in tone”. Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were the previous writers on the project, and Friedman’s hire signals a potential change in tone. Kaplan and Springer are pretty new scriptwriters and they are mostly known for their comedic scripts.
They have a few projects in development, including the Rebel Wilson comedy K-Pop: Lost in America and Disaster Wedding, which has Palm Springs filmmaker Max Barbakow attached to direct.
Josh Friedman seems like a safe pair of hands for the Fantastic Four
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Friedman, however, is something of a veteran of the sci-fi genre. He’s helped out with the scripts for Steven Spielberg’s War Of The Worlds, he was the writer and creator of the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show.
He also ended up returning to the Terminator franchise to help write Terminator: Dark Fate’s script. He was one of the writers that Cameron turned to for help in world-building and crafting stories for his multi-movie Avatar franchise.
The Fantastic Four movie still has a release date of February 14th, 2025, and is set to kick off Phase 6 of its storytelling universe. It’ll be interesting to see if they are able to stick to that release date.
What do you make of this news? Are you a bit worried about this upcoming Marvel movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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