"Fantastic Four: Reborn"

The first Fantastic Four is a guilty pleasure of mine. Minus the acting of Jessica Alba and Julian McMahon, I think it was a faithful adaptation of Marvel's oldest family. Michael Chiklis was a fantastic Ben Grimm, Ioan Gruffud was how I always imagined Reed Richards, and Chris Evans was as good a Johnny Storm I could want. Regardless, most fans didn't respond with as much enthusiasm, and after a failed sequel, the Fantastic Four are getting a reboot.

The reboot is being called Fantastic Four: Reborn. Akiva Goldsman is the driving force behind this, both writing and producing, and I don't know how I truly feel about that, seeing as how he was the writer behind Batman & Robin. Early word is that 20th Century Fox is wanting to take a more serious take on the material, which is what majority of fans want, though I've always been more partial to the '60s Fantastic Four, which might be why I liked the movie from a few years back. Though the rumors for casting are intriguing.

The rumors are that Adrien Brody is up against Jonathan Rhys Myers from The Tudors for the role of Reed Richards. British actress Alice Eve is up for the role of Sue Storm, and word is that this is why she was replaced as Emma Frost by January Jones in X-Men: First Class, cause Fox wanted her as the Invisible Woman. No real concrete rumors yet for the part of Johnny Storm, but word is that Fox is wanting to take the character of Ben Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing, and do him entirely CGI, and have him be voiced by none other than Bruce Willis. But what about Doctor Doom? Latest rumors position True Blood star and now Mr. Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer the frontrunner for the part. As for the director's chair, there have been many names buzzing around, most notably Joe Carnahan (The A-Team) and David Yates (the director of the final four Harry Potter movies). Personally I'd love to see Carnahan get the gig, cause I mean the FF are sort of American, no offense to Yates, who I think has done a brilliant job with Potter.

Fox really seems to be aiming for big money and high rewards with this reboot, even though I'm not full force behind it. With a more marketable and prestigious cast than that of the original, perhaps the fans may get what they want in a more serious take on these characters. Maybe I'll like it when this reboot hits theaters, but right now I just despise the idea of a CG Ben Grimm.