While Marvel fans wait on what Disney will be doing with the Fox Marvel properties, there are certain fans who are keen to see how Disney uses Fox’s immense arsenal in the future. A bunch of Fox movies that had already been made are coming out this year, and they’ve attained nothing but loss. Disney had to release X-Men: Dark Phoenix and the movie ended up losing $170 Million. Alita: Battle Angel should have been Fox’s key seller this year, but even that film was an under-seller.
There are a few Fox movies with great potential coming out later this year, but again we cannot expect them to make any major profits either. Disney must be having some hopes from the likes of Ad Astra (Brad Pitt) and Ford vs. Ferrari (Matt Damon & Christian Bale), but the rest are gonna be quite bad. Looking at the loss that these Fox films will bring upon Disney, they are cancelling a bunch of projects that Fox had put under development.
Fox had around 250 movies in development including certain documentaries, but only around 6-10 of those will remain to be in development. Disney has the creative control over the Fox properties now, and almost everything is gonna be scrapped. You can check out this Reddit post to see the Fox films that are still coming out. Here’s a list of a few major projects that are being removed from existence:
McClane
The Die Hard franchise has been done and dusted ever since the crap bag that was ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ hit the theatres. It was another attempt from Hollywood to make Jai Courtney happen. And that attempt actually killed the franchise completely.
But Fox was actually planning to go back to the basics and stick the prime character of the franchise, i.e. Bruce Willis’ John McClane. The film would have been a prequel to the first Die Hard film that introduced a younger generation to who John McClane was. Obviously the actor would have been recast. But that isn’t happening any more.
Commando
Fox was trying to revive the Commando franchise after the 1985 action thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Suicide Squad director David Ayer was given the opportunity to direct the reboot which would have seen an ex-Green Beret head to Siberia to track down and save his missing son. The plot would have been similar to the original Commando, and Disney obviously didn’t find any need for this. So, Commando gets crossed.
Assassin’s Creed 2
The first Assassin’s Creed from 2015 starring Michael Fassbender was a mediocre success. Fox did put a sequel in development and even had plans for a prequel, but considering the bad adaptation that was the first film, and an even worse reception of the video game film, Disney has obviously decided to take the project down for good.
The Boogeyman
Back in March 1973, Stephen King wrote a short story which got published in the issue of the magazine Cavalier, and later collected in King’s 1978 collection ‘Night Shift.’ Fox put a film under development which would have seen the deaths of three children who cried out about The Boogeyman before being murdered. This would have been a reboot since a short film was made in 2010 and an entire feature length film was made in 1982.
Flash Gordon
Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi would have written a reboot of the 1980 classic where a footballer and his girlfriend unwillingly travel to another planet ruled by an evil emperor. Taika could have brought his magic to this story, but since he is too busy working on 3 movies (a secret project before Thor: Love and Thunder, followed by Thor 4 & Akira), Disney has axed Flash Gordon any way.
Hitman 2
The first Hitman was a disappointing R-Rated action film and Fox tried to kinda reboot it with Agent 47 having cast a new actor, but they obviously couldn’t. Their plans for the franchise were surely not done as there was another Hitman project that was still under works. But since it is Disney’s policy to not follow the R-Rated trend at all, the potential Hitman movie that was under development with Daniel Casey has been given the “Bye-Bye.”
Last Man
Another David Ayer associated project got scrapped as the Last Man would have seen a squad of young American soldiers stationed on a distant planet encounter an alien attack. As the title of the film suggests, only one man would have survived the battle against the Aliens. This project does seem quite interesting, but then again, it’s David Ayer we’re talking about. It would have been an R-Rated story and Disney doesn’t pursue them at all.
Chronicle 2
The Michael B. Jordan & Dane DeHaan starrer drama thriller flick combined a bit of horror with superhero action and gave us quite an amazing outing all things considered. The two leads are obviously big names when it comes to the younger stars currently working in Hollywood. The plot of the first film centred on three high school friends who stumble upon a discovery that empowers them with superhuman powers. Things begin with quite a lot of fun, but turn into a nightmare for all three of them, and the people around.
Now that the actors have grown older and have gotten even bigger in name, marketing a sequel film would have been quite easier for Disney. But since everyone is involved with other projects, bringing the cast back would have been tougher than anyone could have thought. Hence, Disney has decided to cancel the sequel for good.
Megaman
Capcom finally announced a Mega Man film in 2018. But it seems that the years of development over the story won’t turn out to be any good. The company announced the film saying:
“Based on the influential and globally beloved Mega Man franchise, Capcom aims to appeal to a diverse audience, including not only game players but action movie fans as well, with an adaptation that maintains the world of the Mega Man games, while incorporating the grand production and entertainment value that Hollywood movies are known for.”
Disney has decided to step over this project. None of the Marvel vs. Capcom games have worked in the past. What greatness could a film with Megaman possibly offer?
Echo
Geory Clooney was supposed to get in the director’s chair as he was working on a story of a CIA coordinator who battles his mental health while wondering if his wife has been replaced. The film would have probably starred George Clooney as well since he does star in films that he directs.
Looking at all these projects that Disney has cancelled, we can safely say that no one would really miss them. A couple projects like Last Man, the John McClane prequel and may be even Chronicle 2 do sound quite interesting, but we could certainly live our lives peacefully even if these films don’t get made.
Disney is working on quite a lot of projects of their own for now, and they will certainly be taking things slow with all the Fox projects, just like they’re planning to do with the X-Men & the Fantastic Four. We do wonder what Disney will be doing with certain R-Rated projects like the Alien and Predator films, but we will probably get the answer to that question pretty soon. It’s great that Disney is keeping a few Fox films alive including the 4 Avatar sequels, Death on the Nile and Zorro movies. Let’s see what they do next.
