Fantastic filmmaker Jon Watts, who is still basking in the glory of the blockbuster superhero movie ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ starring Tom Holland, has opted out of Marvel Studios’ ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot movie as a director. Jon Watts’ decision to exit the project is apparently because he wants a breather from superhero movies. Before ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, he had also helmed its two prequels ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (2017) and ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ (2019).
Regarding his exit, Jon Watts has stated that “Making three Spider-Man films was an incredible and life-changing experience for me. I’m eternally grateful to have been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for seven years. I’m hopeful we’ll work together again and I can’t wait to see the amazing vision for Fantastic Four brought to life.”
As Marvel fans might already know that this is not the first time a ‘Fantastic Four’ movie is being made. Besides a low-budget, unreleased 1994 film titled ‘The Fantastic Four’, Tim Story had directed two films namely ‘Fantastic Four’ (2005) and ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’ (2007). Both these films were box-office successes despite insipid reviews. Later, a reboot film ‘Fantastic Four’ came out in 2015 but it was rejected outright by audiences and critics and was a commercial failure as well.
Then, in March 2019, the movie rights for ‘Fantastic Four’ went back to Marvel and it was announced that the titular characters will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe aka MCU. For this version, Jon Watts was brought in to direct the feature. But now, with Jon Watts out, Marvel will begin its quest to find an equally adept replacement who would do justice to the eagerly anticipated ‘Fantastic Four’ MCU movie.
After ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, Jon Watt’s next directorial project is supposed to be Apple’s yet-untitled thriller starring Hollywood veteran actors George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the lead roles. The movie would follow the story of two lone-wolf fixers who are assigned to do the same job.