Simon Kinberg looking to move ahead despite scathing reactions.
Despite 20th Century Fox’s reboot of Fantastic Four (2015) opening to critically derisive reviews and disappointing box-office takings this summer, with numerous reports of a troubled production surrounding the film from the get-go, it hasn’t stopped its writer/producer Simon Kinberg from considering the possibilities of a follow-up.
The film, based on characters created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, centres on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form and sees them developing supernatural new abilities. With their lives irrevocably changed, the team have to harness these new skills whilst working together to save the earth from a former friend turned enemy.
Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell starred as Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, respectively, who go on to become Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing.
A sequel was greenlit prior to the original film’s release, an indication of the studio’s desperation to retain the rights to the characters before they revert back to Marvel – who are currently dominating the superhero genre with their Marvel Cinematic Universe roster of films, and Kinberg has expressed an interest in moving ahead with it.
In an interview with MTV News at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he was supporting Ridley Scott’s well-received adaptation of The Martian (2015), Kinberg said: “I’m really focused on the next one. I was obviously really disappointed, and was most disappointed that the fans didn’t like it. I care more about them than I do anyone else. But I haven’t done a full deep dive on it. Do I think it was unfairly treated? I don’t know.”
Continuing, he said: “I’ve been on plenty of happy movies that don’t turn out to be very good movies, and I’ve been on a lot of unhappy, difficult sets that turn out to be great movies. There was a lot of attention on the process of making that movie. It’s hard, when you’re making a movie, as they are hard to make. It’s just the reality. I do believe there is a great “Fantastic Four” movie that we’ve made with that cast, so I’m going to figure out what that is.”
Kinberg’s next film in the pipeline as writer/producer is Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), a sequel to the popular X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), which went into production soon after Fantastic Four was released and which has recently wrapped principal photography. It’s released in UK cinemas 19 May 2016.
Source: MTV News