The Problem with Fox

After Ori's post about The Fantastic Four I have decided to take a second look at 2oth Century Fox and their feeble attempts to make comic book movies. They started off well a few years ago with X-Men and even better with X-Men 2 but they started to drop the ball on Daredevil, Fantastic Four 1 and 2 and with X-Men 3. Why is that exactly?There have been statements swirling around for the past 7 years or so that Fox chairman Tom Rothman (as pictured above) has never shied away from his disdain for the X franchise as most rumors claimed that he thought the X-Men franchise would tank from the beginning. After mild success with the first and a spectacular showing for the 2nd film Rothman always seems to want to subtly put the kibosh on the whole franchise and its characters even after it has made him a boatload of money. It is no secret of course that Fox runs their organization as a strict dollar and sense machine. They, in my humble opinion, more than any of the large companies out there seem to focus more on the greenbacks they make rather than the quality of the project. I mean look at the recent example of X-Men 3. It made a ton of money but most fans of the comic book and some fans of the actual film series were up in arms about the so-called end of their favorite heroes and villains. Like the butchery of the popular Phoenix Saga, the goofy and stupid idea to have Vinnie Jones play the Juggernaut. Of course my personal favorite the ridiculous death of Cyclops which somehow forces rogue bad ass Wolverine to act out of character and in essence become Cyclops by the end of the film. It also didn't help much to bring hack director Brett Ratner on to replace the excellent Bryan Singer. Rumors of course claim that Singer was pushed out for one reason or another but it goes back to my point about making a quality film with a capable director, Rothman just ain’t interested in that. Why would you leave the Fantastic Four in the very in-capable hands of Tim Story, who has to be one of the most incompetent filmmakers to date? Who knows?

To make this post short and sweet I think it's time for Marvel Studios to really push their power and pull the remaining comic franchise films from Fox and give them to more deserving studios that really have an interest in these projects and would like to see them flourish the way they were intended. I know what most people think about Ghost Rider and the recent Spider-Man 3 but Sony at least has the right attitude towards filmmakers who appreciate the source material and give them the freedom to attempt to recapture what was great about the comic book versions. I don't think very much of Mark Steven Johnson who directed the terrible Daredevil and the very silly Ghost Rider but at Comic-Con in San Diego last year he mentioned to us that he felt that Fox was constantly breathing down his neck, Tom Rothman especially, and that they did not fully understand nor wanted to relate to these characters and their motivations.

Paramount is also doing well with their comic book franchises as they are set to release Transformers (which by the way is friggin awesome, I will post my review later this week.) on July 3, A CGI Beowulf later this year, Iron Man next summer, Nick Fury, Deathlok and Ant Man in 2008 and the Avengers and Captain America in 2009. Now I'm not trying to promote Paramount simply because I work for them but the facts do speak for themselves. Fantastic Four 2 made a decent amount of money but the true comic fans have mostly hated it. It is obvious that Fox is not interested in making a quality comic project now or ever. So do us all a favor Marvel pull the plug on all of your projects with them. That means no Magneto pre-quel (yawn) or Wolverine spin-off (wasn't that the X-trilogy anyway). Give it to a company more worthy of your time and attention where a great director can be found and the fans can be happy. Just say NO to Fox.