Even as Walt Disney (DIS -0.45%) toys with the idea of bringing fans three or more Marvel Studios-produced movies a year, Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA) is ramping production efforts on Marvel properties under its control, including a new Wolverine movie for 2017. Fool contributor Tim Beyers explains the implications in the following video.
Specifically, Fox has the next Wolverine movie scheduled for March 2017 with Fantastic Four 2 going that July. An untitled Marvel project is also on the books for July 2018. In December, Fox confirmed X-Men: Apocalypse for May 27, 2016.
Hugh Jackman has yet to confirm his participation in Apocalypse or any other X-Men team-up movie save for X-Men: Days of Future Past, which screens in May. He will, however, reprise the title role for the next Wolverine movie.
Jackman's last solo effort -- The Wolverine -- cost $115 million to produce and earned $416 million at the worldwide box office. Mix in another $56.1 million in Blu-ray and DVD sales (source: The-Numbers.com) and you've one of the better profit producers in Fox's history of adapting Marvel's superhero properties.
And yet, Tim says, Fox may be ignoring history in betting so heavily on Marvel-sourced material. Both X-Men: First Class and X-Men Origins: Wolverine needed ample DVD and Blu-ray sales in order to produce profits. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer doesn't appear to have done much better.
So while it's certain some fans will appreciate seeing more Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Wolverine movies get made, it's too early to know if Fox can develop the sort of franchise Marvel already has in The Avengers. Do you agree? Sound off in the comments section below.
