More X-Men & Fantastic Four Movie Crossover Rumors Surface

Back in December, The Motley Fool reported that Fox was working on a Fantastic Four Vs. the X-Men movie. However, they eventually retracted their original story and changed their statement to Fox "may decide to combine the Fantastic Four and the X-Men for an Avengers-style movie." Now, the Hollywood Reporter is the latest to jump on the Fantastic Four and X-Men crossover bandwagon. In an article about how "shared universe" is becoming the new buzz phrase among Hollywood studios, the Hollywood Reporter states, "There even are plans for X-Men to star in crossover movies with the Fantastic Four, Fox's other property licensed from Marvel." As proof, they cite a quote from X-Men: Days of Future Past and Fantastic Four producer Simon Kinberg. "I have a lot of ideas on how to build those brands and do what everybody is thinking of these days: Be like Marvel," said Kinberg. It's a pretty bold statement, considering that Fox creative consultant Mark Millar has stated, ""I keep seeing 'news' that X-Men & FF movies are crossing over. No, they're not. They exist in same universe but movies stand alone." So is Hollywood Reporter just speculating the films will crossover based on Kinberg's comment? Or do they have other inside information? With Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. both going the crossover route with their superhero franchises, it would be kind of crazy for Fox not to be thinking seriously about a crossover film. However, we imagine that such a crossover film would probably be 2016 or so at the earliest. While the X-Men franchise is firmly established, Fox is planning to relaunch the Fantastic Four in 2015. It would make sense that Fox would probably want to get the Fantastic Four franchise back up and running, before making crossover plans.