How you doin’? My name is Devin Faraci, and I’m the guy who liked Fantastic Four, the movie. I’m actually the guy who liked it better than Batman Begins. Which means I am also the guy looking forward to the FF sequel more than the next Batman film.
The good news for me is that the sequel will be coming soon – 2007 is the target date. The other good news is that Mark Frost, who wrote the first one and who is generally a pretty decent writer (he co-created Twin Peaks) will be back for the script. The less good news is that Tim Story will be back to direct. The first FF suffered, for me, from his pedestrian direction.
But maybe it will all improve. X2 was much, much better than X-Men. Spider-Man 2 beats the shit out of Spider-Man. There’s a trend with comic book movies that once the origins are done, things can really get decent and interesting.
They may be getting interesting for Doctor Doom in the sequel, but they won’t be for Julian McMahon – the Nip/Tuck actor won’t be appearing in the film because of other commitments. The rest of the cast will be back, though. They’re locked in for three pictures.
That doesn’t mean Doom won’t be back, since he’s now a metal faced guy, and anyone can play that. The real question, though, is what new threat will the FF face? Their history is not exactly littered with memorable baddies, or ones who might work on screen. Mark Frost knows who they’re using, but he wouldn’t tell me back at the Toronto Film Festival. Bastard!