After several months of rumors doing the rounds, the 20th Century Fox studio has confirmed coincident to the DVD release that it would bring alive another edition of the 'Fantastic Four' in the following summer. The studio which enjoyed unexpected success of its first “Fantastic” film this year looks to repeat itself in July 2007 when Director Tim Story and writer Mark Frost weave together another engaging voyage with the quartet.
The first “Fantastic Four” film grossed over $154 million in US alone despite poor reviews after being released shortly after the "War of the Worlds" was this July. In fact its release date was adjusted to avoid a head on with the Tom Cruise-starrer that had received better reviews. It seems that it was good strategy after all as the Marvel comic-based movie ended up garnering $56 million on the opening day. In 2007 however, the sequel of the four superheroes is likely to compete with the trilogy of the more popular hero Spiderman that will open two months ahead.
Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis who played the “Fantastic Four” in the first edition will once again relive those characters as agreed originally for three-films. However, villain Victor Von Doom played by Julian McMahon in the first of the series is not likely to be back as he traded the opportunity with an option to star in "Premonition" opposite Sandra Bullock due to commence production in January.
The Story and Frost combination despite earning disappointing reviews managed to pull off a box-office surprise with the first edition of "Fantastic Four". The movie earned a phenomenal $320 million worldwide. It would appear that the scarcity of family-friendly fare in a season dominated by movies of bloodshed besides a strong push campaign helped beat competition. The Director of previous comedy flicks Barbershop and Taxi, Story is understood to have been wooed back with a big fee for the sequel.
Despite the announcement, Story has not revealed the plot but has promised as earlier to deliver “something different than the dark setting” of most superhero films. Reminiscing his first “Fantastic Four” experience he said, "The key was how to play with a comedic tone and the action and have it feel respectable to the genre and the franchise and still be fun”.
But now with "the universe of villains introduced”, according to Story the sequel may just be about getting into the plot possibly some of his trademark comedy infused to keep up the “family-friendly” fare. Perhaps the “Fantastic Four 2” will be a better story of the comic superheroes thanks to Story.
