The Four Color Media Monitor

There was an unconfirmed rumor this week that Fox supposedly gave back the Fantastic Four movie rights to Marvel Studios in exchange for permission to produce some TV programs based on 2 X-Men stories. However, as it turns out, no such thing has happened.

But even if it did, what good would it do Marvel's film office at this point? The new FF movie's come and gone, very unsuccessfully, and even if Marvel did get the movie rights back, they'd surely have to wait several years before trying a FF adaptation again, because who would feel encouraged to see a new one at this time? When a movie fails, it casts a pall over prospects for producing a new one immediately, so I can't see them working on one of their own anytime soon.

There is something in these reports, however, that's eyebrow raising:

...Fox is finally diving into the world of X-Men TV shows with new series based on the Hellfire Club and Legion. However, due to the ever-tangled mess of legal red tape that is superhero licensing rights, these shows required the permission of Marvel Studios, who still had ownership of the TV rights for the X-Men characters. [...]

Now isn't that odd? Marvel supposedly wants back the movie rights to both X-Men and FF, and is willing to go so far as to declare an editorial mandate moratorium barring any more comics and licensed merchandise starring the latter team from being produced, effectively hinging their production almost entirely on whether they have the rights to make movies based on them, yet they're fully willing to give Fox the permit to produce TV programs based on the X-Men. That might be seen as softening their earlier position, yet it suggests some kind of joke is taking place. In that case, while any comics they might produce now starring FF would likely turn out to be pedestrian, maybe they should consider lifting their current moratorium on stories and merchandise, to show they're not being so foolish?

Labels: Fantastic Four, marvel comics, X-Men