CinemaCon is currently under-way in Las Vegas and a few outlets had the opportunity to speak with Fox Chairman and CEO of Filmed Entertainment Tom Rothman about Fox’s upcoming slate. During the interviews Rothman gave us an idea of when we can expect sequels to X-Men: First Class and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and he gave updates on Chronicle 2, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil.
The CEO confirmed to MTV that the creative team is assembled for the First Class sequel, and they are currently deciding upon a release date:
“We’re going to start shooting January 2013 for [a release date of] either Christmas 2013, or Summer 2014,” Fox chief Tom Rothman told MTV News at CinemaCon this week. “The script is in development now. Matt, Simon Kinberg and Jane Goldman are working on it now.”
Shooting and releasing a movie in the same year will be a challenge, but Vaughn worked on a tight schedule when shooting X-Men: First Class so all should be fine if there’s a good deal of prep beforehand, although a summer 2014 release would be better. Fox were planning to shoot later this year but Jennifer Lawrence’s commitment to Catching Fire caused the start date to be pushed back.
Fox had another big success in 2011, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and if all goes according to plan we could be seeing Caesar (Andy Serkis) and friends causing further chaos in 2014. From Collider:
We’re developing a script. Rupert Wyatt, who directed the first one, will direct the second one. We’re pushing forward aggressively, so the script’s being written now….the goal for us would be summer of 2014, if that’s possible.
Like First Class, Apes had a slightly rushed production but WETA did a fantastic job of bringing the apes, chimps, gorillas, and orangutans to life, and I’m quite optimistic about the sequel. Rupert Wyatt has already spoken about his ideas, and said it could take place several years after the events of the first film with humans potentially living underground and apes taking over cities.
Rothman also confirmed to MTV previous speculation that Chronicle director Josh Trank may have a shot at rebooting the Fantastic Four franchise:
“I’m hopeful,” said Rothman. “I think Josh is going to come onto ‘Fantastic Four’ and develop that.”
A Chronicle sequel received the greenlight last month, and Rothman confirmed the movie was in “very active development” and we’d be seeing it “sooner rather than later”. He also said the Daredevil reboot is still in the scripting stage after David Slade (Twilight: Eclipse) came on-board to direct last year.
What do you think of Fox’s plans for all these sequels and reboots? Are you looking forward to any movie in particular?
