Star Wars spin-off #2 is indeed Boba Fett origins

There has been a lot of speculation and rumors regarding what the second Star Wars spin-off is, or was, going to be. I guess Disney decided to spill the beans since Josh Trank "left" the project. Plus it's May the 4th, so here we go.

The second spin-off is confirmed to be a Boba Fett origins story, or at least a story focused on bounty hunters. It's what many people guessed and what a lot of insiders told the internet when the spin-offs were first confirmed. We already had a semi-origin of Boba with Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. We discovered he was an unaltered clone of the Stormtrooper army host, Jango Fett. Boba was left on his own after Mace Windu decapitated Jango in the battle on Geonosis. After that we didn't see Boba until the original trilogy, so there is a pretty big gap of time where this is possible.

This is a bit interesting because Star Wars: Rogue One is basically centered around the birth of the Rebellion and the world of Rebel fighters. Having the second spin-off be about the complete opposite could potentially be a lot of fun. The only question now is who Disney will hire to replace Josh Trank.

Was Josh Trank fired from Star Wars or did he quit?

Just a day after announcing his departure from the Star Wars franchise, there are already rumors about the reasoning behind Josh Trank's decision. Despite his statement giving the impression that the decision was his, there are many speculating that it might have been Disney that gave him the boot.

But why?

Well, the biggest theory is due to the issues behind the scenes of his adaptation of Fantastic Four with 20th Century Fox. There were some issues with Trank's adaptation of the film which, at first, caused a delay of the film's production and release. There's also the matter of the less than thrilling responses the film's trailer has received so far. Writer/Producer Simon Kinberg worked with Trank on Fantastic Four and is on board for the Star Wars spin-offs and sources are claiming that he spoke up to the Disney/Lucasfilm executives about some "unusual behavior" Trank displayed while in development and on set. Apparently he also displayed a lot of uncertainty and was indecisive causing the writers and producers to step in and help him pull his own film together, including taking the reigns for reshoots of the film alongside the film's editor, Steven Rivkin. This behavior very well might have given Disney reason enough to kick Trank to the curb.
Continuing this rumor, sources are claiming that Disney's decision came just prior to the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim last week. Trank cited illness as reason for him not appearing, but he might have been asked by Disney not to appear. In addition to his absence, there was no mention of him or his spin-off film throughout the whole weekend. You can't use the excuse of not focusing on the spin-offs because Gareth Edwards' had his own panel for Star Wars: Rogue One, starring Felicity Jones, and we got a short teaser for the film.

So what happens now? We are still getting Star Wars: Rogue One in 2016. Trank's film was originally slated for a 2018 release just after Rian Johnson's Star Wars: Episode VIII hits in 2017, but sources are claiming that Disney might shift the second spin-off to 2019. That leaves a gap in 2018 that will have to be filled with something if they want to keep a tradition of a Star Wars film every year. 
There is also no telling what is in Josh Trank's future with 20th Century Fox. We will have the chance to see Fantastic Four in August and a sequel has been announced, but Fox has not confirmed writers or a director for it. That is leading many to believe that Trank might be getting fired or has already been fired from that franchise as well. My guess is Fox is waiting to see what the response will be from audiences before officially hiring Trank to direct the sequel, but if the reception is bad and/or the movie is horrible you can expect him to be kicked to the curb once again.

Personally, I never understood why people gave this guy such big opportunities in the first place. It was all based on his directorial debut, Chronicle, and I'm sorry to break it to you but Chronicle was horrible. It was a classic example of a film that looked great on paper but it was a jumbled mess with a lack of vision and direction. Why Fox even gave him Fantastic Four confused me from the beginning and the issues on set proves that he doesn't belong in the world of blockbusters. I'm glad Disney recognized a problem and didn't take the chance.

Josh Trank exits Star Wars franchise

After some longstanding curiosity about the Star Wars spin-off films, it looks like we might have some changes made to at least one of them as director Josh Trank has exited the project.

Trank had been hired to direct the second spin-off film to follow Gareth Edwards', Star Wars: Rogue One. This comes one week after Trank was not in attendance at the Star Wars Celebration convention in Anaheim, CA. He cited illness as reason for missing the weekend, but with this announcement it might have been a ruse to cover up a problem. This also comes just months before his new adaptation of Fantastic Four hits theaters. After initially expressing extreme excitement, Trank made this statement regarding leaving the franchise:

"After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I'm making a personal decision to move forward on a different path. I've put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities. That said, the Star Wars universe has always been one of my biggest influences, and I couldn't be more excited to witness its future alongside my millions of fellow Star Wars fans. I want to thank my friends Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg, and everyone at Lucasfilm and Disney for the amazing opportunity and to have been a part of this. May the force be with you all."

Lucasfilm and Disney have already released a statement that production for the spin-off will continue, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a new director hop on board quickly.  

Fantastic Four 2 delayed one week in 2017

After confirmation that Star Wars: Episode VIII will be hitting on May 26, 2017, 20th Century Fox has decided to shift the sequel to this year's Fantastic Four reboot by one week. Fantastic Four 2 was originally set to hit theaters on June 2, 2017 but the studio wants more of a break between the two films and it will now be released on June 9th.

As it currently stands, Fantastic Four 2 has June 9th to itself but I highly doubt that will hold. Not to mention we haven't seen Fantastic Four yet and there is no telling how it's going to be received. If it sucks and people hate it, Fox might scrap the sequel altogether. Only time will tell.

Fantastic Four stars Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Michael B. Jordan, and Toby Kebbell. It hits theaters on August 7th, 2015.

Fantastic Four - Teaser

We finally have our first glimpse at Josh Trank's adaptation of Fantastic Four. Despite the movie opening this year we haven't seen anything about the film before now except for a selfie from the cast the night filming wrapped.

The trailer reveals our cast (Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell) as they become physically mutated and transformed after a visit to an alternate universe. While we don't get a glimpse at Toby Kebbell's version of Dr. Doom, we do hear his voice for the first time.




Fantastic Four hits theaters on August 7th in 3D.

Josh Trank to direct Star Wars spin-off

Fantastic Four director Josh Trank has been hired to direct another standalone Star Wars spin-off film. It was announced by Disney that they intended to make at least three separate Star Wars films and they just are keeping the ball rolling. Godzilla director Gareth Edwards was confirmed to be directing one of them last week.

Trank hit the scene with the 2012 film Chronicle and since then has been hired to direct Fox's Fantastic Four reboot. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy stated, "we are thrilled to welcome Josh into the family."

Fantastic Four finally has a cast

After much speculation and rumor, we finally have an official casting announcement for the upcoming reboot of Fantastic Four.

As rumored and expected, Miles Teller has signed on to play Reid Richards/Mr. Fantastic and Michael B. Jordan will play Johnny Storm/The Human Torch. In addition to those two, Kate Mara has landed the role of Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman and Jamie Bell is in final negotiations to play Ben Grimm/The Thing.
The new Fantastic Four will be based off the "Ultimate Fantastic Four" comic arc with the young cast being cast to show the origins of the characters and show them as young people. A villain is set to be cast in the coming weeks. Josh Trank (Chronicle) is set to direct the film slated for release on June 19, 2015. 

I personally don't like these casting choices at all. I think Jamie Bell is probably the best choice and he shouldn't be The Thing. He should be playing Mr. Fantastic. And not trying to be so-called racist, but how does it work to have Sue Storm be white and Johnny Storm be black? Unless they make one of them adopted or something.

Source

Matthew Vaughn to produce Fantastic Four reboot

After Matthew Vaughn dropped out of the director's chair for X-Men: Days of Future Past I think just about everyone was wondering what other projects he had on his plate. It seems Fantastic Four was on his list. It was announced today by Mark Millar via Twitter that Vaughn was set to produce the upcoming reboot to be directed by Josh Trank (Chronicle).

I thought we were getting Fantastic Four next year, but apparently I was wrong. We can expect Fantastic Four on March 6, 2015.

Release date for Fantastic Four reboot announced

We might as well just call 2015 the year for superhero movies. It seems like every sequel or major movie is coming out that year. So far we have The Avengers 2, Ant-Man, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Star Wars Episode VII, and the announced Justice League movie. On top of this 21st Century Fox has released an announced date for the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. The release for this potential train wreck is March 6, 2015 and is promptly titled The Fantastic Four.

In addition to the Fantastic Four announcement, Fox also released 3D announcements for their upcoming films. Films to be released in 3D are The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.

Venom tied to The Amazing Spiderman?

New questions and information have arose for one of the most popular Marvel villains, Venom, in regards to the upcoming reboot The Amazing Spiderman. We have learned that it is possible for Venom to have a tie in to the film starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.

Seeing that previous news has surfaced of Chronicle director Josh Trank taking the lead of a movie based solely on Venom people were wondering how you can have Venom without involving him with Spiderman at some point. At a recent press conference for The Amazing Spiderman, producer Matt Tolmach mentioned:

“I’m trying to say to you without giving anything away is hopefully all these worlds will live together in peace someday… look for the worlds to make sense with one another.”

Collider suggests that they are trying to follow an Avengers-like universe where you introduce the characters and then tie them all together into one movie later on. This idea works for different superheroes fighting one main villain, like in The Avengers, but I don't know if it will work with one movie about a villain (aka, Venom) and one movie about a superhero fighting a completely different villain (aka, Spiderman and The Lizard). Unless there is a third factor thrown in I don't see how it will work smoothly.