Fox hires Mark Millar as consultant for their Marvel property movies (1 Viewer)

[Sean Bryan]

Following the lead of Marvel Studios (where Joss Whedon was hired as a consultant for all of their Marvel Cinematic Universe films in Phase 2), Fox has hired Mark Millar as a consultant for their "marvel" properties (X-Men/Wolverine and Fantastic 4).
Seems the reaction of the geek community is somewhat mixed due to some of the thing Millar had done in comics. But I think it's a great sign that Fox is getting serious about their Marvel comic movies after seeing how it should be done, thanks to Marvel Studios themselves.
Certainly it'd be best if these properties simply went back to Marvel Studios, but if that's not going to happen (and I doubt Fox will ever let that happen) then this is the next best thing.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/09/27/mark-millar-given-the-joss-whedon-role-over-foxs-marvel-movies/

As someone who has spent his entire life obsessed with both comic-books and movies, this is essentially my dream gig as it’s a unique combination of both.
I spent ten years working at Marvel and am really happy with the work I did on the comic side of things so the idea of working with these characters now in a brand new medium is enormously exciting for me. I really like the Fox team, love this bold new direction they have for their franchises and am proud to be working alongside some of modern cinema’s biggest talents.
James Mangold is incredible, Matthew Vaughn’s one of my closest pals and Josh Trank gave us, in my opinion, one of the greatest superhero movies of the last decade with Chronicle. The invitation to join this crew was maybe the coolest phone-call I’ve ever had.

 

[Sean Bryan]

An encouraging attitude.

"The job at Fox is officially "Creative Consultant" and if there's a comparable job, I guess it's probably what Joss is doing over with Marvel Studios. It's very, very exciting. Just as a fan, to be at the heart of something like this is wonderful."
"There have been some poor decisions in the past, but you also have to remember that there have been some excellent ones too. Bryan Singer's X-Men for example, I think revolutionised superhero movies. It pre-dated Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, and I think you forget how close that was chronologically to Batman and Robin! To open with a Holocaust scene in a superhero movie was just unheard of. Fox get a lot of flak for the films which didn't work out, and quite rightly, but you forget that they've done some really great stuff too. I'm thinking specifically of X-Men, X-Men 2 and X-Men: First Class."
"The team who is running the show over there now I'm very comfortable with. I actually really like everything that they're doing, and they recognise more than anyone the mistakes that they've made in the past and they just want to do right by the fans. Hiring myself was a first step in a number of things that they're planning and they just really want to be respectful to the material I think. X-Men: First Class, which I absolutely loved, just feels like planting the flag for what they're planning to do over the next few years."
"Hiring Josh Trank for Fantastic Four...it could just not be more different than the first Fantastic Four movie from what I've seen so far. Even just as a fan, I'm very, very excited by the level of talent they have on the directors side of things."
"I can't say too much about it right now, but The Wolverine has only just started shooting really, I mean it's been shooting for a few weeks now. I really do like it and I'm really impressed by it. Days of Future Past, which is being written at the moment, is the next one up and at the same time, Fantastic Four is being written right now. In a weird way, it's just the easiest job in the world as I'm surrounded by people who are so good!"

 

[Sean Bryan]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=42105

Of course, next up on the Fox Marvel slate is "The Wolverine" -- director James Mangold's adaptation of the classic Chris Claremont/Frank Miller comic that takes the man called Logan to Japan. While the film starring Hugh Jackman has been in production for months, Millar promised that it would play a pivotal role in the long term Marvel game plan. "I didn't work on 'The Wolverine' in a direct sense. There were about two months of 'Wolverine' shooting done when I got this job, but I've got a couple of ideas from it. The only guy I don't really know yet is James Mangold, and I wasn't involved in that screenplay -- though I read it and loved it. But the thing is, I felt like 'Iron Man' was really the beginning of something for the Marvel Studios movies, and 'The Wolverine' will be a similar starting point to build a lot off of for the Fox movies."
That idea will roll into "X-Men: Days of Future Past" when it starts production next year, and the writer said the change in roles behind the scenes for original "X-Men" director Singer and "X-Men: First Class" helmer/Millar friend Matthew Vaughn would allow for some fun twists to the formula. "Bryan's worked as a producer even on the X-Men movies that he didn't direct -- he was a producer on 'First Class.' So when Matthew decided he wasn't going to do the sequel, they just switched places with Matthew producing and Bryan coming on to direct. That's got nothing to do with me, but I'm delighted that Bryan and I will get to work together over the next few years. I've been working with Josh Trank on 'Fantastic Four,' and I have a lot of ideas of other places we can go with the characters Fox has the rights to."
Asked if there were any specific characters from the X-Men world that he'd like to get on the screen sooner rather than later, Millar did play a little shy, though he noted some obvious picks for longtime fans. "That's such a hard question to answer because all the characters I'd want to use, we're already planning on using in some way," he said. "I flew out to LA and talked to Fox, having a days worth of meetings to hammer out ideas. There's an amazing amount of potential in the X-Men universe. It's almost a Marvel Universe in itself in that you can build up to so many great stories and so many great characters. I hesitate to name names, but let's say that all the ones you like and everyone you'd expect, we'll have them. It's insane to have the crown jewel and not expect to wear them.
"You have to remember that Fox grabbed the X-Men back in the '90s because it was the biggest franchise in the world. So X-Force or Cable or Deadpool -- all these amazing characters are things we haven't really gotten to yet. 'X-Force' #1 was the second biggest book of all time behind Jim Lee's 'X-Men' #1, so there's an immediate brand recognition to that stuff and a build in fanbase. You go to any convention in the world, and you'll see 20 people dressed as Deadpool. In a lot of ways, these are Marvel's coolest characters, so I want to remind people of that and build on what we already have. I think there's a great foundation, and just from basic conversations, we've come up with ten movies we could do. These things cost $150 million each to make, so we have to pick and choose what we want to do."

 

[Sean Bryan]

He seems to have the right attitude. Let's hope Fox's Marvel Cinematic Universe can live up to it's potential.

"It came about for a couple of reasons. One of my friends Joe Carnahan was saying to them (FOX) Mark was involved with Marvel for years and a lot of the stuff that was used in The Avengers movie, the source material was a book I'd done called The Ultimates. He said, look Mark could be a really good resource for you and the guys at Fox had read The Ultimates and they said if he can bring that same sort of thing to the Fox lane of Marvel characters that could be really beneficial.
"So Fox are thinking, 'We're sitting on some really awesome things here. There is another side of the Marvel Universe. Let's try and get some cohesiveness going.' So they brought me in to oversee that really. To work with the writers and directors to suggest new ways we could take this stuff and new properties that could spin out of it because the X-Men alone feels like a universe of itself. There's so many characters in there and so many great potential spin-off characters.
"They asked me to come in and work out a plan. So unfortunately at this point I can't get too specific. I do have a three to four year plan of where things could go, but you know, I'll be working with guys like Matthew and Josh Trank, who's the new director on Fantastic Four, and just figuring out how everything can work together and not contradict each other. But I also don't want to make it too much of a mess either, with everyone showing up in everyone else's films.
"What my dream is, as a fan, is that when you go and see any Marvel movie that it feels as if they're all taking place in the one universe like when you pick up a Marvel comic. You should feel as if they're all taking place in one big kind of cohesive place."

http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/173563-more-details-on-mark-millars-consultant-role-at-fox

 

[Sean Bryan]

So this is interesting:Fox Hires Simon Kinberg to Create 'Marvel Style' Universe for X-Men, Fantastic Four

"I have a lot of ideas on how to build those brands and do what everybody is thinking of these days: Be like Marvel," Kinberg said. "I want to be able to build stories over multiple movies."

http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/180639-fox-hires-simon-kinberg-to-create-marvel-style-universe-for-x-men-fantastic-fourThis sounds similar to the role that Mark Millar was supposed to have. Though he was only referred to as a creative "consultant". I wonder if this is a more significant role, or if Millar is out?

 

[Sam Favate]

Wasn't Kinberg working on a Star Wars solo project for Disney? Or did JJ Abrams replace him too?

 

[Sean Bryan]

Yes, Kinberg is still writing and producing one of the upcoming Star Wars films, I think one of the "stand alones", and he is doing the Star Wars Rebels TV series. Millar just confirmed that he is still working in his consultant role. So, the upcoming FoX-Marvel films are currently:- X-Men: Days of Future Past- The Wolverine 2- Fantastic 4 (reboot)- X-Force- X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

 

[Freddie Z]

I couldn't find any FF thread and I didn't want to start one so I'll just use this.It looks like Fox has set its FF cast: Miles Teller as Reed RichardsKate Mara as Susan StormMichael B. Jordan as Johnny StormAnd... (possibly) Jamie Bell as Ben GrimmIf true, definitely won't see this on the big screen.

 

[Sam Favate]

Don't know any of those actors, so I can't form an opinion on this news. But Simon Kinberg is writing the script, so that's at least hopeful.

 

[TravisR]

^ Kate Mara is in House Of Cards and Michael B. Jordan was great in Fruitvale Station and The Wire (playing Wallace) so while they're changing the Torch's race simply to manufacture diversity (rather than having it happen organically by using or creating a black super hero), he's still an excellent actor and should have no problem filling that role.

 

[Freddie Z]

and here they are:

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/02/20/who-are-the-new-fantastic-four

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I think Kate Mara is a terrible choice for Sue, Miles is way too young to be Reed Richards, and Jamie is an odd choice for Ben (and also feels too young).

The only one I like for the film is Michael B. Jordan, a great actor with absolutely the right energy to be Johnny Storm.

Still, it HAS to be better than Rise of the Silver Surfer, right?

 

[Freddie Z]

This FF is based on the Ultimate FF comic book. Not the classic FF most people know. So the cast's age are just about right. Am I happy? No. I grew up reading John Byrne's run on FF.I liked Miles Teller in The Spectacular Now. Michael B. Jordan was Oscar worthy in Fruitvale Station. Kate Mara seems to getting out of the shadow of her sister. Jamie Bell is the veteran actor among this group. However, they are not the FF that I remember.

 

[Sean Bryan]

I'd love to see a great Fantastic Four movie. Unfortunately I have significant doubts that this will be it. Hope I'm wrong and it's cool, exciting, fun, adventurous, etc... And respects the material. But I'm not wild about the "young team". Let Johnny Storm be the young one. If they're all kids in their 20's, then Johnny Storm kind of looses that distinction. I wish Fox would have just let this go back to Marvel and focused on all of their X-titles. With what Marvel wants to do with their cosmic cinematic universe, it stinks that they don't have access to big cosmic players like Galactus, Silver Surfer, the Badoon, Super Skrull, etc...Still, it could be good. But I definitely have my reservations on this one.