The news of Disney's $4bn acquisition of Marvel is still ringing in our ears, but Variety has a reminder that it will be some time indeed before Marvel's entire canon resides permanently at the House of Mouse. Fox control the rights to the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Silver Surfer for as long as they continue to knock out films (so does that mean they're in danger of losing Daredevil?). And they've just announced a reboot for the FF.
The primary-coloured, kid-friendly FF films are easily the series that, more than any other of the current slew of comicbook properties, most faithfully reflects its 60s origins. The 2005 original garnered shaky reviews but mega box-office. 2007's follow-up, Rise of the Silver Surfer, did similar business, and gained the consensus that it was one of those sequels that's actually better than the original.
So the series would seem to have been moving in the right direction, with the stable cast of Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis, and direcor Tim Story. But whether any of that gang will return for part 3 is unclear.
Akiva Goldsman, whose CV as a producer includes I Am Legend, Hancock and Mr & Mrs Smith, and who wrote screenplays for I, Robot, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin (nurse!), has been hired to oversee the reboot. Script duties are currently with Michael Green: a Heroes alumnus who's been working on Green Lantern.
Fox have plans for a solo outing for The Silver Surfer, so it's unlikely that he'll show up this time out. Dr Doom is currently at the bottom of Shanghai Harbour and was unavailable for comment.