20th Century Fox’s X-Men film franchise has been fairly successful, grossing over $4 billion dollars since they acquired the rights to the characters in the 1990s. Despite Deadpool performing well beyond anyone’s expectations, X-Men: Apocalypse had a poor box office showing, and many of the cast’s contracts are or are about to expire. That’s not all. Deadpool 2 is currently looking for a director. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Gambit is still in a production stall.

While the studio will release Logan next year, what comes next for the franchise is still very much in the air. Which is why, according to a new report, Fox is considering giving the X-Men another reboot. Check out the full story below.

THR says that despite Fox expanding their X-Men film franchise with spinoffs like Logan, Deadpool, New Mutants, and Gambit, the studio finds themselves at a crossroads. And a lot of that had to do with the fact that no one seemed to care about the film’s chronology.

Let’s start with the contracts for First Class actors Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Nicholas Hoult. All signed on to a three-picture deal, which started with First Class and ended with Apocalypse. Lawrence stressed to Vanity Fair that “If one of us doesn’t come back, none of us are.” So now Fox has to decide if they are going to continue on with the current franchise and their biggest stars or if they should just go back to the drawing board and start all over. However, Simon Kinberg, who has written and produced the last four X-Men films, is in the process of writing a new script, with “Lawrence, Fassbender, and McAvoy optimistically in mind.”

But if there is a sequel, it’s going to happen without Bryan Singer as director. While Singer has said that he would return to direct another installment of X-Men after his work on 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, sources tell THR that the filmmaker will not return. But it’s not clear if that was the filmmaker’s decision or if the studio did not extend an offer to him.

This isn’t the only problem that the franchise will encounter. Logan marks the end of Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine. The actor has played the character throughout the original trilogy, cameoed in First Class and Apocalypse, had a pivotal role in Days of Future Past. He also starred in all three of his titular spinoffs. Now that Jackman is on his way out, fans will only have to look forward to Deadpool films – which may not be a bad thing if it weren’t for the sequel being without a director.

In late October, Tim Miller walked away from being director of Deadpool 2 over creative differences with star Ryan Reynolds. The director wanted a more expensive actioner, but Reynolds wanted to have something that was in the same vein as the first. John Wick co-director David Leitch is currently the frontrunner to helm Deadpool 2, with Drew Goddard as another possibility. However, Fox sees a lot of success in the Merc with a Mouth and have set their sights on a Deadpool 3 and X-Force, another X-team that Reynolds has said he wants to happen.

As for Gambit, the Channing Tatum-starring vehicle is currently without a director as Doug Liman departed from the project in August. The film pulled from its release date earlier this year.

While all of this may sound like bad news, there is some good news to share. Fox is currently developing New Mutants, and if that turns out to be a success, it means that we will get to see more mutant mayhem.

[Source: THR]