5 X-Men & Fantastic Four TV Shows Fox Needs to Make

[Exciter]

Live action and cartoons are totally different. Marvel has always kept the cartoon rights to their characters, hence X-Men: Evolution, and Wolverine and the X-Men - the whole reason the latter show ended after one season is because they couldn't work out an agreement with their financing partner to continue the series. The fact that Simon Kinberg has even discussed the possibilities of various X-Men television series makes it clear that the live action television rights were included with the film rights, otherwise any such discussion would be totally irrelevant.

Or Kinberg could be speculating or simply overstating his claim without a solid legal basis. We really don’t know.

However, I believe the movie vs. television distinction is more important to their licensing agreements than the live action vs. cartoon distinction. For example, Marvel could use Silver Surfer in the Superhero Squad TV series but could not use him in their Planet Hulk film because that was a movie. He was replaced with Beta Ray Bill.

[Kalen O.]

Or Kinberg could be speculating or simply overstating his claim without a solid legal basis. We really don’t know.

However, I believe the movie vs. television distinction is more important to their licensing agreements than the live action vs. cartoon distinction. For example, Marvel could use Silver Surfer in the Superhero Squad TV series but could not use him in their Planet Hulk film because that was a movie. He was replaced with Beta Ray Bill.

No, sorry, but there's no way the main producer of the X-Men films talks about possible TV show spin-offs without being sure that Fox has the rights to produce those shows, because its utterly stupid to raise fan interest in something you can never ever actually produce, and there is no way 13 years after the first X-Men films who owns the TV rights, Fox or Marvel, hasn't definitively been hashed out between the two by now. If Kinberg's talking possible TV shows, Fox has the TV rights. That part is fairly cut and dried.

[Sammael]

Guys, We need to clear something up, one way or the other. Does fox/marvel/ or no one have the live action tv rights to the xmen/fantastic four universe?



According to this:

http://openjurist.org/277/f3d/253/twentieth-v-marvel


Here is an relevant excerpt:


The rights granted to Fox included "the right to use the title (or subtitle or portion of the title) of the Property or any component of the Property as the title of any Picture or related exploitation." The Agreement reserved all television rights to Marvel, subject to a proviso, critical to Fox's pending contract claim, that Marvel would not "produce, distribute or exploit or authorize the production, distribution or exploitation of any live-action motion picture" without Fox's consent (the "Freeze").

Now to me, this sounds like NO ONE can create a live action xmen series. Marvel has all tv rights with a catch, if it wants to produce a Live Action tv series with the xmen universe, it needs Fox's permission. Would Fox ever grant such a thing? I don't think so, they want the focus on their movies, like trying to showcase the age of apocalypse in... 2-3 hours.


Why are people saying fox can make a live action tv series when this counter evidence is out there stating that marvel has the rights but just can't exercise them with live action?

Did you hear something we did not? If so, produce some evidence, I want to know if this is wrong. And having some fox producer speculate is not good enough. Did they say they had rights or not?

[Exciter]

No, sorry, but there's no way the main producer of the X-Men films talks about possible TV show spin-offs without being sure that Fox has the rights to produce those shows, because its utterly stupid to raise fan interest in something you can never ever actually produce, . . .

Because Fox has never done or said anything utterly stupid before? There's no basis to assume its "cut and dried" to assume Fox has TV rights because this one guy speculated that TV was a possibility. We don't even know the context. He could have just been asked the question and said "Of course we'd be interested in TV." This wasn't a press conference or official announcement, and although people love to speculate on rumors, its not word of god that Fox has the rights.

Why are people saying fox can make a live action tv series when this counter evidence is out there stating that marvel has the rights but just can't exercise them with live action?

Did you hear something we did not? If so, produce some evidence, I want to know if this is wrong. And having some fox producer speculate is not good enough. Did they say they had rights or not?

Exactly this.

[Kalen O.]

Because Fox has never done or said anything utterly stupid before? There's no basis to assume its "cut and dried" to assume Fox has TV rights because this one guy speculated that TV was a possibility. We don't even know the context. He could have just been asked the question and said "Of course we'd be interested in TV." This wasn't a press conference or official announcement, and although people love to speculate on rumors, its not word of god that Fox has the rights.

There's a difference between doing something stupid and shooting yourself in the foot by raising excitement for something that can never happen, for literally no reason that could possibly benefit you.

A) This isn't 'this one guy' I'm talking about. Its Simon Kinberg, the executive producer of the last three X-Men movies. Not just producer, executive producer. And he also worked as a writer on the last two as well. If anyone knows the exact status of Fox's film/TV rights in regards to the X-Men properties, its him.

B) He wasn't 'speculating that TV was a possibility', and we do have context. Collider.com interviewed him at Wondercon, and the contents of that interview were then included in an article in Variety magazine, one of the premiere trade magazines for the film and television industry, not some internet blog that only traffics in unconfirmed rumors.

That article opened with this:

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” writer-producer Simon Kinberg told Collider that Fox is considering bringing its Marvel universe to the smallscreen. This could include TV shows on X-Men, Fantastic Four, X-Force, Deadpool and New Mutants.

That doesn't say speculating if TV is a possibility, it says considering bringing its Marvel universe to the smallscreen. Cut and dried. I maintain there is absolutely zero chance that after over thirteen years of producing X-Men films, Fox is still unclear whether or not they are allowed to produce X-Men television shows. So if they say they're considering bringing their licensed properties to the smallscreen, its at least a possibility. Maybe Fox and Marvel renegotiated the live action TV rights after that lawsuit, I don't know. But an executive producer who has been attached to a specific property for almost ten years does not go on record in a trade magazine like Variety about 'considering' something with that property that his studio doesn't actually have the rights to.

[Sammael]

Him saying those things does suggest fox has some sort of live action tv rights, but I'd still like to see some hard confirmation.

Aside from that, would you all PREFER fox had the tv rights?


I am not sure if it would be better or worse if they had the rights vs marvel. The only tv show marvel has done in live action so far is agents of shield, and that purposely shifts the focus away from the A-list characters and properties. The same thing can be said for their upcoming dabbling with netflix.


Would marvel do A list content for live action tv? Do they have any interest in it? I think TV is the superior medium for shows like the xmen, so many characters that having longer story arcs that take seasons to get through is almost a requirement. It allows for more character development, more delving deeper into the universe than a film could ever hope to achieve.

Fox seems to have had ZERO interest in tv properties so far when it comes to xmen. Would they treat a tv series as second fiddle, just to filler to prop up movies, or would they dive in full force like game of thrones? I don't WANT to see age of apocalypse done in movies, I want to see multiple seasons dealing with that kind of arc, the same goes with the come of galactus for fantastic 4, or the phoenix saga.


Netflix dropped around a hundred million dollars on house of cards, why can't fox OR marvel do the same for a tv series for xmen? Why is this not already in the cards?

DC is the only one taking full advantage with warner brothers. PEople crap on the movies, but Arrow the tv show is pretty damn good in my eyes, and the flash has the potential to be fantastic as well. Batman would be PERFECT for a tv series, it's just so obvious this is where they all need to go. They need to find a model so that this can work out.

[Lightsabretooth]

Does anyone remember Mutant X?
mutantx1.jpg

While it was ok for a saturday, or sunday morning (I don't quite remember which day) tv show it was very soap opera-ish. It had some decent moments, but I just see any new attempt at an X-Men type tv show failing similarly.

[Sammael]

Does anyone remember Mutant X?
mutantx1.jpg

While it was ok for a saturday, or sunday morning (I don't quite remember which day) tv show it was very soap opera-ish. It had some decent moments, but I just see any new attempt at an X-Men type tv show failing similarly.

I remember avengers earths mightiest heroes, and young justice, and xmen the animated series in the 90s on fox. Swap out animation with live action and it would still be orders of magnitude better than mutant x.

The only constraint I see is cost. Animation does not have this issue, which is probably why it's easier to do these shows there. I read something that said that green lantern cgi show cost about double what a show like young justice cost, but that might be a cheaper way to do one of these types of shows justice without plain animation.

We know disney is doing another cgi animated star wars, they just need to swap out that cartoony art style with something more contemporary and that would be perfect too. I don't even care that something is live action, it just needs to be good, but cgi in the place of live action or standard animation could be more interesting visually.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj2eqmeKXPE


Stop cancelling good animated series, cartoon or cgi alike, because you want to sell toys to mindless toddlers who have yet to gain full sentience. Avengers was replaced with something worse, same with young justice, those shows DESERVED to be on tv, and now we live in dark times because some jerks in power like Jeff Loeb don't want any marvel properties to have longer story arcs, only kids with add should have content made for them.

/pulls hair out in frustration

[Exciter]

There's a difference between doing something stupid and shooting yourself in the foot by raising excitement for something that can never happen, for literally no reason that could possibly benefit you.

A) This isn't 'this one guy' I'm talking about. Its Simon Kinberg, the executive producer of the last three X-Men movies. Not just producer, executive producer. And he also worked as a writer on the last two as well. If anyone knows the exact status of Fox's film/TV rights in regards to the X-Men properties, its him.

B) He wasn't 'speculating that TV was a possibility', and we do have context. Collider.com interviewed him at Wondercon, and the contents of that interview were then included in an article in Variety magazine, one of the premiere trade magazines for the film and television industry, not some internet blog that only traffics in unconfirmed rumors.

That article opened with this:



That doesn't say speculating if TV is a possibility, it says considering bringing its Marvel universe to the smallscreen. Cut and dried. I maintain there is absolutely zero chance that after over thirteen years of producing X-Men films, Fox is still unclear whether or not they are allowed to produce X-Men television shows. So if they say they're considering bringing their licensed properties to the smallscreen, its at least a possibility. Maybe Fox and Marvel renegotiated the live action TV rights after that lawsuit, I don't know. But an executive producer who has been attached to a specific property for almost ten years does not go on record in a trade magazine like Variety about 'considering' something with that property that his studio doesn't actually have the rights to.

I think any absolute certainty that fox has TV rights based on this comment is misplaced. The “cut and dried” line you quoted was not what Kinberg said, it’s what Variety reported. It’s the “purple monkey dishwater” effect, if you get the reference.

Look at what Kinberg actually said (or watch it, they post the video within a few clicks of the CBR article). Some reporter for Collider interviewed him. In it, the reporter asked if TV was a possibility. Kinberg said “We’re still in this place of figuring out what the future of the franchise will be” and basically said that it’d be cool to do TV. Collider posted that, then Variety stretched it even further. You hold Variety in high regard, but what they did was very clearly just take something Kinberg said on the fly when asked by someone from Collider and reuse that information with a sensationalistic headline (not very far removed from what “some blogger” might do). It’s important to note that this is not Kinberg going directly to Variety and telling them that he intends to make an X-Men TV series.

Consider that (1) Kinberg was asked the question, he didn’t volunteer the information like he was making an announcement, (2) he said they’re trying to figure out the future of the franchise and confirmed absolutely nothing. This is not the same as a press release from Fox saying “we’ve got the rights and we’re developing TV shows.” It’s a conversational interview, not everything he says should be ascribed legal significance, no matter if Variety or the New York Times chooses to editorialize the information.

[j9ac9k]

Layla was the best part of X-Factor.

Hm. Yeah, they could put her on the show, then it'd be like that D.B. Sweeney show, "Strange Luck." (that's not a bad thing)