‘Fantastic Four’ Is Must-Win for Marvel, Audiences Like ‘True Detective,’ ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Gets Promoted and More (02-14-24)

The new 'He-Man' movie could repeat the biggest mistake of the 1987 'Masters of the Universe' movie as 'Godzilla X Kong' gets a kaiju-sized second trailer

Why ‘Fantastic Four’ and ‘Superman: Legcy’ can’t afford to go (almost) head to head

I guess two out of the three “upcoming” MCU movies are full-speed ahead. Captain America: Brave New World was never in that kind of existential danger, although we will see if Mahershala Ali’s Blade becomes a living and breathing motion picture.

Walt Disney just swapped the release dates for Thunderbolts (now kicking off summer 2025 on May 2) and Fantastic Four (now opening on July 25 of next year). They also announced the cast for Marvel’s “first family.” We knew about Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic and Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm had been a “very likely rumor” for what seems like the last year. But Ebon Moss-Bachrach (from The Bear) as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as Johnny Storm. 

I wrote last week about how Superman: Legacy A) had more to fear from a Jurassic sequel than an MCU anti-heroes ensemble flick and B) should consider moving to July 18, WB’s favorite summer movie slot. I take that back now. Superman: Legacy must fly somewhere else on the summer calendar, ideally to June 6. That early-June weekend saw massive launches for Wonder Woman ($413 million domestic and $820 million worldwide from a $103 million debut) in 2017 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($381 million/$690 million from a $122 million launch) in 2023.  

It’s not that an MCU Fantastic Four movie is a bigger deal than James Gunn’s Man of Steel relaunch. No, both films are hugely important, *absolutely must-succeed* comic book superhero franchise starters. Neither can afford to get winged or dinged due to proximity. The reception of Superman: Legacy will determine the future of DC Studios. However, arriving six years after the end of the Infinity Saga, Fantastic Four will determine if Marvel Studios has much of a future.