'The Wolverine' and 'Fantastic Four' sequel dates revealed

The release dates for sequels to The Wolverine and The Fantastic Four have been revealed.

X-Men spin-off The Wolverine, a standalone adventure for Hugh Jackman's character Logan, was released in last summer. According to Collider, Fox have now confirmed that a follow-up film will hit cinemas on March 3, 2017.

Meanwhile, while the planned reboot of The Fantastic Four is yet to open in cinemas, Fox have already locked down a release date for a sequel, which will debut in July, 2017. There will also be intrigue about an as-yet-unknown new Marvel project, which will follow on July 13, 2018.

...this is still happening, BTW.

Hey, at this point, so was Amazing Spider-Man 3.

I would be in on a Woody Allen FF movie. I would find that totally fascinating.

I would be in on a Woody Allen FF movie. I would find that totally fascinating.

Director of terrible cult movie 'The Room' wants to make 'Fantastic Four 2'

Tommy Wiseau - the writer, director, producer and star of notoriously terrible 2003 movie The Room - has seemingly revealed he is keen to make the sequel to Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four, the superhero reboot starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell, opened last month to overwhelmingly negative reviews including a 3/10 verdict from NME. On the eve of its release, director Josh Trank appeared to disown the film by criticising its final cut.

Before Fantastic Four opened, 20th Century Fox scheduled a sequel for release on June 9, 2017, though it remains to be seen whether the follow-up will be pulled following the film's woeful performance at the box office. The Hollywood Reporter has recently named it the second biggest box office bomb of the summer after Tomorrowland.

However, none of this has dampened Wiseau's enthusiasm for the sequel, and during a recent interview he appeared to pitch to direct it. "Let me put it this way, I like it, I did enjoy it number one," the film-maker told Milwaukee magazine. "Number two, it's too bad they didn't call me, that's all I want to say and I rest my case."

Wiseau then added: "Good response in Europe though, that's my understanding, but it's too bad they didn't call me, that's my point. Maybe if there's a sequel, you know. You know, maybe your article gets me that job, who knows what will happen."

Wiseau even offered to give the magazine's journalist his "commission fee" if 20th Century Fox hires him to direct the sequel.

Though Wiseau has yet to direct another feature film since The Room, which regularly appears on lists of the worst movies ever made, he has recently written, directed and starred in the poorly-received Hulu sitcom The Neighbors.

I would be in on a Woody Allen FF movie. I would find that totally fascinating.

‘Fantastic Four 2’ Is Still Happening For Some Reason

Before Fantastic Four opened to dismal box office and even more dismal reviews, 20th Century Fox attempted to combat the bad buzz surrounding the film by greenlighting a sequel. It was a vote of confidence – they were prepared to stick with this cast moving forward. Then everyone saw the final product and the internet proceeded to pick over the film’s fascinating corpse in a desperate attempt to figure out what happened with this production. We all assumed that the announced Fantastic Four 2 was dead and buried. We were wrong.

MTV caught up with Fantastic Four producer Simon Kinberg at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of The Martian (on which he is also a producer) and asked about a potential sequel. Here’s his response:

We’re figuring out what that movie would be. I’d like that to happen.

That’s far from total confirmation that Fantastic Four 2 is definitely happening, that’s just Kinberg, a smart and prolific producer, treading cautiously. There is nothing to be gained from publicly executing a potential sequel, especially when the studio that regularly employs him is so very interested in holding onto each and every one of their superhero properties. Fantastic Four may have been a bomb, but the building blocks of a better movie are there. Making a sequel to a movie that everyone hates seems foolhardy, but we admire the tenacity.

Kinberg also spoke about his personal disappointment with the whole thing, but he admitted that he hasn’t had time to really sit down and evaluate everything that went wrong. He’s been too busy working on X-Men: Apocalypse. His quote:

I was obviously disappointed. I was most disappointed that 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.

Although he spent most of this discussion being diplomatic, he did get awfully blunt about the amount of press that was focused on the film’s troubled production. As he says, every movie is a difficult process before you add so many prying eyes:

I’ve been on plenty of happy movies that don’t turn out to be very good movies, 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, movies are hard to make. It’s just the reality.

Fantastic Four 2 was previously announced for a 2017 release date. If it happens – and that is one big “if” – expect to wait a little bit longer. Everyone has their work cut out for them if they want to resuscitate this series.

Not Woody Allen. Wes Anderson! (Look what he did with ANOTHER Marvel property...)