Fox Prepping A Live-Action X-Men Show For Television? Why That’s A Good Thing And A Bad Thing
X-Men fans could be in for a treat as a new rumor has Fox looking beyond the existing X-Men movie franchise to bring Marvel’s merry mutants to the small screen. That’s right, a live action X-Men television show is reportedly in the works, but there’s reason to believe that might not be the best of things.
The new report comes by way of Bleeding Cool, which cites Hollywood sources who say that Fox is currently in “deep development on a live-action X-Men TV show.” What’s more, Fox is apparently seeing a good deal of interest in the show, so there is a solid possibility that it will actually be made.
That’s about all the info that Bleeding Cool has on the project, and that’s not really a lot, but a live-action X-Men show could be a good way for Fox to continue capitalizing on the X-Men license that it holds without necessarily having to roll out a new X-Men movie once every couple of years.
X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past were solid hits, and X-Men: Apocalypse looks likely to be just as big, but it’s questionable whether Fox could keep up that box office win streak once series stars Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence decide they’ve had enough of their current roles.
In bringing the X-Men to television, Fox would be following in Marvel’s footsteps again. The comics giant has already begun development on a number of Avengers-linked television shows for Netflix, starring Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist.
A live action X-Men show could also form the centerpiece of Fox’s X-Men “universe.” Much like Marvel has already done with its Avengers franchise, Fox and Sony are attempting to build universes around the Marvel properties they have licensed. Sony owns the rights to Spider-Man and is attempting to turn Venom and the Sinister Six into separate franchises, while Fox is building as much as it can around the massive range of X-Men characters.
The studio has already greenlit a Deadpool film, which it says will fit into the existing X-Men universe. That, along with X-Men: Apocalypse, will make for nine X-Men films.
An X-Men television show could have a number of good things going for it that could make it better than the X-Men movies. Specifically, a show would not be limited to the roughly two-hour maximum of a theatrical release, and it would be able to explore more of the characters. That could make for a more interesting experience as the movies so far have largely focused on Wolverine.
Expanding the X-Men universe into television would allow other characters to blossom, and the X-Men mythos is packed with interesting heroes and villains. Still, there’s no guarantee that Fox would be able to competently handle an X-Men television show. This is, after all, the company that made X-Men: The Last Stand and both Wolverine movies.
In fact, X-Men fans of a certain age might even remember the best reason to be wary of Fox bringing the X-Men to the small screen. Namely, this wouldn’t be the first time Fox has tried to bring live action mutants to prime time.
Way back in the 1990s, long before Marvel was bought by Disney and morphed into a can’t-miss movie powerhouse, the House that Stan Lee built was floundering. It tried again and again to turn its fantastical properties into live action success, partnering with Fox to produce Generation X, a live action film focused on a younger generation of X-Men.
No charges were ever filed.
[Lead image via DeviantArt’s trivto.]
