Fantastic Four Gets New Director

Fantastic Four
Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and the Thing should be making their debut soon, as Director Peyton Reed ('Bring It On') has been signed to direct 'The Fantastic Four,' for 20th Century Fox, reports E! Online.

Fox had rights the project since at least 1992, when the studio kept Roger Corman's embarrassingly cheesy big-screen version from ever seeing the light of day. The project was pushed further to backburner with Marvel-based flops like 'Punisher' and 'Captain America' stinking up theaters. Eventually, 'X-Men' arrived and caused Hollywood to finally take men in spandex very, very seriously.

"We expect and hope to make [Fantastic Four] pretty soon. If X-Men hadn't worked, we may have reconsidered," Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Tim Rothman told the LA Times.

Batman writer Sam Hamm was attracted to the property for its comedic values. "The Fantastic Four are generally a sunnier bunch than Batman. And the fun of doing a team story is that it's really about an extended dysfunctional family," he noted in a Cinescape interview.

"The notion of comic characters having to deal with petty real-life issues, in addition to alien invasions and supervillains who want to take over the world, is what gives them so much flavor."

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