“Thunderbolts*” director Jake Schreier is in negotiations to direct Marvel‘s next “X-Men” adventure.
Sources revealed the deal is in early talks and hasn’t been finalized, but Schrier catapulted to the top of Disney and Marvel’s wishlist after “Thunderbolts*” became one of the MCU’s best reviewed movie in years.
Though “Thunderbolts*” started slower at the box office (with $76 million domestically) compared to most Marvel installments, the studio is hoping that support from critics and audience will help the film endure on the big screen.
Screenwriter Michael Lesslie, who recent credits include “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” penned the screenplay with Kevin Feige on board to produce the newest “X-Men” entry.
No other details about the film, including the cast, plot description or release timeline, have been revealed.
Prior to Marvel, Schreier has directed 2012’s sci-fi drama “Robot & Frank,” 2015’s romantic comedy “Paper Towns” and episodes of Netflix’s “Beef” and “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.”
Disney has started to mine the mutant comic book characters with 2024’s billion-dollar tentpole “Deadpool & Wolverine” and the upcoming “Fantastic Four: The First Steps,” but this untitled feature is the first standalone “X-Men” movie since 21st Century Fox was acquired by Disney in 2019.
On the small screen, Marvel Studios produced the well-reviewed Disney+ animated series “X-Men ’97,” a spinoff of the 1990s-era show.
Disney’s CEO Bob Iger praised “Thunderbolts*” earlier this week, saying the offbeat adventure represented a step in the right direction for the MCU after a series of creative and commercial misfires.
The once-untouchable film franchise has fielded undeniable post-COVID blockbusters, like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” But the superhero empire has also shown some concerning signs of wear-and-tear with misfires such as “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “The Marvels” and “Captain America: Brave New World.”
Iger admitted the film studio struggled by focusing too much on quantity and not enough on quality.
“We’ve learned over over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. And frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much,” Iger said on Wednesday during an investor call. “By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe that will result in better quality. I think the first and best example is ‘Thunderbolts*.’”
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