How Jon Watts’ New Movie Can Impact MCU’s Fantastic Four Release

Jon Watt’s new movie could impact the release plan for Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four movie. After directing the first two films in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man: Homecoming franchise, Marvel and Kevin Feige chose Watts to help bring the Fantastic Four to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Watts is busy putting the finishing touches on Spider-Man: No Way Home prior to its December 2021 release, a new project could get in the way of Fantastic Four potentially.

Watts has been attached to direct the MCU’s Fantastic Four movie since late 2020. The timing of the announcement made it seem as though the film would be his first project after Spider-Man: No Way Home, and this led fans to believe that the movie would come sooner than later. However, Watts is now in the process of selling a new thriller he’ll write and direct starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney as rival hitmen. His involvement and the obvious star power that comes with the dream pairing from Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11 Clooney and Pitt has made the untitled thriller a hot package in Hollywood that has most of the major studios and streaming services vying for its rights. With an expected high bidding war coming, could Watts’ new movie impact plans for Fantastic Four?

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Since Watts has been attached to direct Fantastic Four for almost a year now, this new project is being developed by him with full knowledge that he will still be responsible for making his fourth MCU movie. What is still a mystery, though, is the order in which these projects will release. Marvel Studios hasn’t announced an official release date for Fantastic Four, but Watts likely knows the plan that Feige has developed. He can develop this movie as his first post-Fantastic Four project or have hopes to fit in between Spider-Man: No Way Home and Fantastic Four if production isn’t scheduled to begin for a while. That information is not public and dramatically changes whether or not Watt’s thriller will have any impact on Marvel’s First Family joining the MCU.

Most predictions have placed Fantastic Four as a 2023 release and taking one of the three vacant slots Marvel Studios has that year. This is still easily attainable if Watt’s new movie is planned as a post-Fantastic Four production. If he wants to make the Clooney and Pitt-led thriller in between MCU projects, that would complicate a 2023 release plan. As part of Screen Rant’s MCU Phase 4 slate prediction, Fantastic Four took the November 2023 release slot. That would mean the movie needs to start filming by late 2022. If Watt’s thriller is smaller in scale and in high enough demand, it is possible he can film the movie early next year as a sort of palate cleanser from the MCU.

Regardless of whether Watts plans to make this new thriller before or after Fantastic Four, it is difficult to imagine he would develop this project without knowing what his MCU schedule looks like. Watts wouldn’t plan on making the movie before Fantastic Four if there was any chance it would delay Marvel’s plans. Details on his thriller should become more clear once a studio picks it up and a production timeline is solidified. This wouldn’t even be a concern for fans if Marvel Studios had already given Fantastic Four an official release date on Marvel’s MCU Phase 4 slate either, and that could change at any time.

Key Release Dates
  • Eternals (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
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