The Silver Surfer may soon ride the cosmic skyways into movie theaters once again.
A report from The Hollywood Reporter suggests that 20th Century Fox is pushing ahead with developing a Silver Surfer movie. The film is being developed from a treatment by Brian K. Vaughan, the creator of Marvel’s Runaways and writer of other hit comics including Saga, Paper Girls, and Y: The Last Man.
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The Silver Surfer movie is reportedly one of several “secret” projects that 20th Century Fox is working on despite the looming merger with Walt Disney.
“We are going 100 miles per hour,” one executive involved told THR.
20th Century Fox already has several Marvel movies on its film schedule. Deadpool 2 will release in May and X-Men: Dark Phoenix will follow in November. The New Mutants was originally scheduled for release in April but has since been pushed by to 2019 for extensive reshoots. Channing Tatum’s Gambit movie is still in development but once again searching for a director after Gore Verbinski’s exit.
The Deadpool spinoff X-Force is reportedly looking to begin filming in October. There have also been reports that former X-Men comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis is working with Tim Miller, the director of the first Deadpool, to develop a Kitty Pryde solo movie. James Franco and X-Men: Dark Phoenix writer/director/producer Simon Kinberg were reportedly working together on a Multiple Man movie. Legion creator Noah Hawley is developing a Doctor Doom spinoff move. Other rumors suggested that Fox was looking to reboot the Fantastic Four film series once again, this time with a focus on the Richards’ children.
The Silver Surfer made his film debut in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2000, where he was played by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne. Fox hired J. Michael Straczynski to pen the script for a Silver Surfer spinoff film, but after the poor reception for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and a disappointing box office performance nothing ever came out of the idea.
It’s unclear how Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox would affect these “secret” plans for a Silver Surfer movie.