Fox has quietly removed the sequel to this year’s “Fantastic Four” from their release schedule, leaving the future of the franchise in question.

The finding was reported by Box Office Mojo, which noticed the film was absent from Fox’s release lineup. It had previously been announced for a June 9, 2017 premiere.

The studio has yet to comment officially on the matter and while the cancellation of the sequel would not be surprising—rumors of pulling the project have circulated since the week after the reboot’s disappointing debut—the possibility remains that the studio simply needs more time to pick up the pieces of their shattered franchise. 

Canceling the film would go against what Fox’s chief of domestic distribution, Chris Aronson, insisted earlier in the year to THR saying “While we’re disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe.“ 

“Our Marvel universe” would seem to imply that they’re in no hurry to jettison the film rights to Marvel’s First Family, despite this being their third unsuccessful attempt to make it a series that sticks. 

Writer and producer Simon Kinberg was also quoted in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival in September saying that “We’re figuring out what that [“Fantastic Four” sequel] movie would be,” giving credence to the idea that the studio is taking more time to strategize.

2015’s “Fantastic Four” only grossed a pitiable $56 million domestically and $167 million worldwide with a reported budget of $120 million. The sequel was greenlit by the studio before the reboot’s premiere, so if the film were cancelled it would be the final statement of failure for a franchise that Fox was sure would be a hit.

First, go listen to this song to get amped up for this trailer. Add it to your workout playlist. Live like you’re a drunk former super heroine with nothing to lose.

Now, watch the trailer released by Netflix today. Less than 10 days until the premiere!

Hoping to bring more Star Wars fans to the world of Star Wars comics, Marvel will be publishing a mammoth free sampler in the week before The Force Awakens opens in theaters. This 56-page one-shot will give previews of not two or three Star Wars titles but SIX of them: Star Wars #1, Darth Vader #1, Princess Leia #1, Lando #1, Vader Down #1 and Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Shattered Empire #1. The Star Wars Sampler will hit comic book retailers on December 9, and Marvel describes it as “perfect for distribution at movie theaters and other promotional events.”

Grab it when it comes out – it’s free! And thank your local comic book shop, since they’re the ones footing the bill on this. Get some and share with friends in line at the theaters!

Avengers: Age of Ultron; Directed by Joss Whedon; Starring Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, James Spader, et al; Written by Joss Whedon; Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action, violence and destruction, and for some suggestive comments.; 141 minutes.

“Marvel’s Avenger’s: Age of Ultron” is now readily available to own, and I finally had a chance to watch the movie and the bonus features.

Since BSR already reviewed the film, I won’t say much about it other than I didn’t find it as interesting as the first “Avengers” movie, and Ultron kept reminding me of Hugo Weaving’s voice in “The Matrix.” But maybe that’s just my ears. Still, if he’d just said “Mr. Anderson” once, it would have made my day. 

But owning the movie grants you access to all the bonus features, so let’s look at those. First, if you purchase “Ultron” through Disney Movies Anywhere you get the exclusive clip, “Connecting the Universe” that explores the epic intertwining story lines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Then, there are the three featurettes:

The Infinite Six explains how the Infinity Stones are part of a larger developing story in the Marvel films. Thus far, we’ve seen the Reality Stone, Power Stone, Mind Stone, and Space Stone in the films, with the Soul and Time Stones set to appear in the third phase of the Marvel films. This will culminate in Infinity World, “which has the potential to be this huge epic saga.”

As someone mostly unfamiliar with Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet, I found this featurette educational. Hard-core fans may have already know this, and may find it useless information.

“From the Inside Out – Making of Avengers: Age of Ultron” focuses on the visual effects of the film. With the addition of the twins, the crew had to figure out details like how Quicksilver’s trail would appear when he ran, and what the Scarlet Witch’s powers looked like. Elizabeth Olsen worked with a dancer to develop the elaborate hand movements of her character.

There’s also focus on the motion caption characters Hulk and Ultron, portrayed by Mark Ruffalo and James Spader respectively.

Global Adventures is just a quick glimpse at how filming ranged all over the world, with cast and crew visiting Italy, South Korea, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Much of that is covered in the “Making of” featurette already, so it felt redundant.

Then, there are deleted and extended scenes, as well as a gag reel and audio commentary by Joss Whedon. Not including the commentary, I think there’s about 40 minutes of extras. 

I give the film a 7/10, and the features 6/10. 

A copy of the film was provided for review.

“Jessica Jones” #1 (9 out of 10) Written by Brian Michael Bendis; Art by Michael Gaydos; Cover by David Mack; Published by Marvel; Digital Release Date: October 7, 2015

Marvel and Netflix are, so far, quite good at delightfully teasing the anticipatory viewers of the upcoming “Jessica Jones” show. With each release of a short but exciting teaser, I know I get more and more antsy. I have November 20 blocked out, ready to sit curled up in a blanket watching the adaptation of one of my favorite comic series, “Alias”.

Fans got another neat gift today when Marvel announced the release of “Jessica Jones #1”, available for free on Comixology.com. What makes this digital comic even more special? It reunites Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos, the original writer and artist for the “Alias” series along with cover art by David Mack, who also created cover art for the original run. The issue is only 12 pages long, and half of it focuses on Daredevil, but the panels featuring Jessica are a perfect representation of the heroine/private investigator. She’s sneaky, she’s foul-mouthed, she powerful, and not very graceful. If this comic gives any insight into what we can expect from the show, I look forward to seeing tie-ins with “Daredevil” and hopefully appearances by Rosario Dawson.

Log into Comixology.com to grab your free version of “Jessica Jones #1” while you wait patiently (yet eagerly) for November 20.

This week comic book retailers received a postcard from Marvel ambiguously teasing at a “Civil War II.”

The post card, with art by ‘Civil War’ artist Steve McNiven (signed MNV), pays homage to the iconic panels of Iron Man fighting Captain America (Steve Rogers) in the 2006 universe-wide comic book event “Civil War.” Though on the postcard we see the Invincible Iron Man (issue #1 on the rack 10/7/2015) fighting Captain America Sam Wilson (issue #1 on the rack 10/14/2015). Confused? Steve Rogers gave the title of Captain America to Sam Wilson – a.k.a. The Falcon – after Rogers lost his super soldier ability and youth (pre Secret Wars — which is the universe-changing comic book event taking place right now).

The flip-side of the postcard simply says “II” and “SPRING 2016.” 

If Marvel and DC have taught us anything about comic book sales in the direct-market age, it’s that one must always be ramping up for the next event. I’m sure that after an event like “Civil War II” the Marvel Universe will never be the same.

Trent Hunsaker is the owner/opperator of Death Ray Comics in Logan, Ut. He is the program director for the A Part of Him Podcast Network and cohost on NetHeads – a live, weekly geek/pop culture show, on Kevin Smith’s SModcast Internet Radio.

While we wait patiently for the next season of ‘Daredevil’, Netflix dropped a trailer today for it’s second Marvel show ‘Jessica Jones’. 

Starring Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, the show is based on the comic series ‘Alias’ by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Gaydos. The story follows Jones, a former superhero named Jewel, who opens her own private investigation firm. The Netflix series, which was announced to premiere November 20, will star Ritter, David Tennant as villain Zebediah Kilgrave, Mike Colter as Luke Cage. Ritter was interviewed recently on the ‘This Week in Marvel’ podcast and gave a great breakdown about her character, “Jessica Jones has been through a lot and she is totally traumatized and she is really just trying to make a buck to buy a whiskey and stay alive, and that is it. She isn’t really interested in participating in any social communities, she has one friend, she keeps her world very small because that’s how she can remain in control.”

The teaser features no actual scenes from the upcoming show, but moving, stylized artwork very reminiscent of Gaydos’ art in the ‘Alias’ series and Tennant’s eerie voice can be heard shouting Jessica’s name. 

Check out the teaser and sound off below. Are you excited for ‘Jessica Jones’?

A few days back, Jeremy Renner let slip that his Hawkeye will be taking Captain America’s side in “Captain America: Civil War”, but now it appears the full rosters of both, Cap & Iron Man’s teams, have been leaked!

It looks like Iron Man, War Machine, Black Widow, Black Panther, and The Vision will be facing off against Captain America, Hawkeye, Sharon Carter, Falcon, Bucky Barnes, and Ant-Man (can you spot him?).

This is an interesting divide in The Avengers, but I like it, so count me on board. I’m also loving that Sharon Carter will apparently be playing a bigger role in this film, standing by Cap! Now that the rosters have been set, we will have to wait to see how this all shakes out when our beloved Avengers split and go toe-to-toe with one another on May 6, 2016!

Source: Mr. Sunday Movies

Any surprises for you with these teams?! Sound off in the comments!

Well, Tom Cruise stayed at the top spot for another week. Mostly because Josh Trank and Fox released yet another awful “Fantastic Four” film. I mean it got worse ratings than “Pixels” and nobody liked that movie. Hell, out of the two reviews on this site, one gave a 0 (a bit hyperbolic) and the other a 6. That’s just awful. The last time a non-MCU owned Marvel character film did this badly was the “Ghost Rider” sequel. That film was unwatchable and made just $4 million less than “Fantastic Four.” 

Maybe, just maybe, Fox will see the light like Sony did and just let Marvel take over the characters. Fox obviously can’t tell a good FF story, which to be honest isn’t going to be easy for anyone, so maybe they should let the people who’ve made Thor and Ant-Man successful take over. 

A quick note on budgets and dollar figures:
Films making back their budgets is a good sign, but that is just the money to film. It doesn’t include distribution and marketing. Marketing can cost as much as a film. That big Superbowl spot is spendy. So take that into account when judging a film’s success. Hitting $100 million isn’t the same as it once was.

All dollar amounts in the top 5 come from estimates based on ticket sales unless noted otherwise. Occasionally this article will be published when actual results come out, which is usually late Monday afternoon. For more about this and other ins and outs of movie tracking click here.

FANTASTIC FOUR (0 out of 10) Directed by Josh Trank; Written by Josh Trank, Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg; Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Reg E. Cathey; Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some suggestive content; Running time 106 minutes, In wide release August 7, 2015.

Superhero movies have evolved and matured into a legitimate genre that has transcended their original, niche market. While the original “Fantastic Four” films never hit home, the addition of Josh Trank fresh from his success with the excellent “Chronicle”, gave hope that someone might finally get this Marvel property right. Nothing could be further from the truth. Inexplicably, he has managed to create one of the most soul crushingly joyless movies ever made and has set an astoundingly new low for film in general.

Wunderkind Reed Richards (Miles Teller) has been working on a transportation device his whole life. He and best friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) have been tinkering around with it ever since the fifth grade and now, high school seniors, they have finally figured out how to not only transport matter but also make it come back. This catches the eye of Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey doing his best Morgan Freeman impression) who recruits Reed to work with the government and finalize his inter-dimensional transportation device. Joined by Storm’s brilliant children, Sue (Kate Mara) and Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), as well as the originator of the project, Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell), Reed and team soon perfect it. Realizing that they won’t be allowed to travel to this new dimension, Reed convinces Ben to join him, Johnny and Victor to be the first explorers of this strange new world. The trip goes horribly wrong and leads to the presumed death of Victor as well as imbuing the rest of the crew – and Sue Storm, inexplicably – with strange powers and physical transformations. Sensing the potential to create an army of super beings, the government searches for an escaped Reed who holds the key to reopening the dimensional door and either finding a cure for his friends or unleashing the doom of earth.

Think what you will of the first movies, but at least they understood the humor, camaraderie and sense of family of the Fantastic Four. This iteration is a desiccated husk that refuses to allow anyone to derive any sense of enjoyment or fun out of it.

Since this is a reboot, we get a severe dose of origin-itis, which I’m not opposed to considering that Trank has completely rewritten the origins of the characters. I’m fine with that as well; by all means, take a new approach to keep things fresh. What doesn’t work is when said origin takes more than half the movie to explain and wastes most of its time on characters staring into computer monitors. What’s worse is it actually takes a downward spiral once they have their superpowers. I have no idea how they did it, but as my husband pointed out, they managed to make superheroes more boring than regular people.

And speaking of people, no one is remotely invested in their roles. Trank’s script is so horribly written that they probably would have had better lines if they had sat down and dictated the phone book. This isn’t to say the actors couldn’t have done better, but when the lion’s share of the film rests on the “talents” of Miles Teller it leaves little room for anyone else to have a chance to connect with the audience. It’s a shame too because Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell who portrayed the only interesting characters could have had some kind of impact had they had more than 15 minutes of actual screen time.

The only fathomable reason “Fantastic Four” exists is to extend the film rights for Fox. Everything reeks of desperation and no one involved should be remotely proud of the result.

“Pixels” is a masterpiece in comparison.

The only good thing to come out of this would be if it bombs spectacularly and Fox remits the rights to Marvel, but since they already have a date for a sequel, even that’s uncertain.

Rarely have I seen a movie stoop so low in an attempt to do so little, and Fox and Trank should be ashamed at the sorry excuse for a movie they are trying to pawn off on us. If not for the successes of the MCU, “Fantastic Four” could easily have singlehandedly killed the genre for years to come. This is not only the worst superhero movie ever made, it’s easily the worst in recent memory. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to ever subject themselves to it.