FOX In Negotiations With MARVEL For X-MEN TV Series

Quote :

Fox is inching closer to a live-action X-Men series.

"[For] X-Men, we're in negotiations with Marvel. We're hopeful we'll be able to announce something soon. We're not closed on a deal yet but it's something we're definitely pursuing," Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Dana Walden told THR on Thursday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour stop.

As THR previously reported, Fox's potential live-action series is being penned by Star Trek 3 writing duo Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne; they will share a "created by" credit with 24's Evan Katz and Manny Coto, who also will serve as showrunners.

Fox studio counterpart 20th Century Fox owns the rights to the film franchise (with seven features already released based on X-Men characters and Gambit with Channing Tatum in the pipeline). While conversations to bring the franchise to the small screen are underway, sources indicate a deal is far from complete, with Marvel — which owns the comic rights — still having to sign off on the deal. The comic book powerhouse is based at Disney, with ABC shows including Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter on the network and five upcoming straight-to-series programs in the works there. Marvel would have to sign off on the deal.

"The characters from the X-Men franchise are with Fox on the feature side so we won't be including Marvel characters that are at ABC with Disney," Walden said of how the deal with Marvel will be structured. "This will be exclusively the franchise as it has existed at Fox."

The goal, she said, was for X-Men to be a "long-running" series — not a limited revival a la 24: Live Another Day and the Prison Break revival, which Walden and Fox TV Group chairman and CEO Gary Newman announced early Thursday.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/fox-deal-x-men-live-813542

Oh yeah, it's perfect timing. Marvel, trade X-Men TV rights for F4 now!

I wonder which mutants would they use if they got the TV series going.

As long as it isn't a show about spies, then I'll be fine with any character.