Good news/Bad news. The two seem to be inseparable, and the movie business is definitely no exception to their calamitous duality. If you were hootin’ and hollerin’ about the decidedly good news this morning that Fox has greenlit and dated Deadpool at last, then here’s that obligatory bad news to go with it: Finally pencilling in the Merc With a Mouth Movie wasn’t the only change the studio made to their calendar as they have seemingly removed Michael Fassbender’s Assassin’s Creed off their lineup entirely, leaving it just with a noncommittal “TBD” – that’s “To Be Determined”.
The Justin Kurzel directed video game adaptation was originally scheduled for August 2015, which was pretty much an impossible date to make as they haven’t even finalized the script yet, as Fassbender himself recently revealed. Combine that with the actor’s ever-busy schedule and there was just no way they could pull it off with less than a year to go. With the size and scope of the story that was being rumoured, a ton of post-production was probably going to be needed and they just wouln’t have the time for it, irrespective of how much effort Fox and video game publisher/production studio Ubisoft was putting into this. This property is too much of a big deal for either Fox or Ubisoft to shelve, so I don’t think we have to worry about that, but for now it’s a no-show.
The calendar rejigging didn’t stop there though, as Fox has also delayed their Josh Trank directed Fantastic Four reboot by two months to now take up the August 7, 2015 slot that Assassin’s Creed had previously occupied. This is actually very good news. Well, at least for Fox’s bean counters
With “controversial” casting decisions and fan-unfriendly character redesigns and story direction, the film has admittedly not been getting the overwhelming positive reception from the masses that Fox had been hoping for. The film has a crap load of talent attached to it though, which means that it could very well turn out *cough* fantastic, but it’s old release date of June 19, 2015 would have seen it going up against the likes of Pixar’s Inside Out and Jurassic World, both of which will probably be audience magnets. Now it pretty much has August all to itself, as the only other remotely “big name” release that month is the Jack Black led Goosebumps adaptation. And if Fantastic Four cannot make a successful debut under those conditions, then I think its safe to say it’s Doomed.
Last Updated: September 19, 2014
