Fox’s X-Men franchise is in a bit of a strange spot. The mainline of films are currently mired in what appears a never-ending series of period pieces. And while Days of Future Past was critically well-received at the time (just check the Rotten Tomatoes score), the series took a big blow with the drubbing that Apocalypse received. It’s also worth noting that once you adjust for inflation, this new series has been on a bit of a downward trend financially.
Their current solution to their woes is apparently doing another Dark Phoenix Saga take, but directed by the screenwriter behind many of the recent films, Simon Kinberg – who would be making his directorial debut on the film. We’ll see what happens, it can’t get any worse.
I don’t even want to get into the confusing in-story timeline issues that surround the whole thing.
So, things aren’t going great on that end. But where fortunes have smiled much brighter on the franchise has been in its spin-offs. Deadpool was a *meteoric* hit, grossing more than any other X-Men film, and audiences ate it up! A sequel with an inspired looking cast and one of the filmmakers behind John Wick leads to some exciting possibilities. To keep that train of thought rolling, this year’s Logan was the best movie I’d seen this year period until Dunkirk reared its head. And the upcoming New Mutants spin-off, which its emphasis on horror, sounds right up my alley. And hey, Legion absolutely ruled.
So, perhaps the way forward for Fox is in this space, to wit, the studio has, according to Deadline, enlisted Drew Goddard to take on X-Force as a spin-off for Deadpool – playing true to the source material in that both the Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth and Josh Brolin’s Cable will lead the titular Black Ops team of ruthless mutants. There’s no indication of who else will be involved in terms of cast of yet, but I wouldn’t rule out Zazie Beetz’s Domino, who also debuts in the upcoming Deadpool 2. Given that X-Force was originally a revamped version of New Mutants, perhaps a few of its stars might pop up here too.
Goddard has been attached to a few different superhero properties, such as the Spider-Man Sinister Six spin-off that went nowhere, a project he dropped out of Marvel and Netflix’s Daredevil for. But from the looks of things, he may have finally found the proper comic book based home for his sizable talents. I’m certainly much more intrigued now.
Days of Future Past was and still is great. Before that, The Wolverine and First Class were both rather good. After it, Deadpool and Logan were amazing. So the only point of evidence for the X-Men series being in a rut, whether you are taking about “mainline” or “spin-offs” (though the division isn’t always that obvious, with films like First Class looking a lot like a spin off when first released and Logan finishing plots that started in the first X-Men) is Apocalypse.
Even if Apocalypse had been an X-Men Origins level disaster, one bad film isn’t enough to support the current wide-spread belief that X-Men films are in a bad place. But Apocalypse was perfectly watchable, and had some really great scenes (especially the stuff with Magneto). It certainly wasn’t much worse than, say, Doctor Strange, or as bad as Suicide Squad. Meanwhile, all the other movies Fox have made have not only been great, they are all the sort of movie I can’t even imagine Marvel Studios making, at least not yet.
Never give the X-Men back, Fox. You’re doing just fine to me.
Oh, and more importantly, awesome news about Drew Goddard, I’ve been wanting to know what comic book thing he work on next ever since he left Daredevil. The two episodes of Daredevil he did direct are so goddamn good.
” It certainly wasn’t much worse than, say, Doctor Strange ,,,:
Apocalypse was much, MUCH worse than Doctor Strange.
But I agree that First Class and Days of Future Past were good movies.
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