This is an open letter to anyone at 20th Century Fox, with how I would handle their X-Men Universe in the wake of The Avengers and their successful First Class Pre-Boot-quel-thing. 

The X-Men cinematic universe was the first major franchise launched in this modern era of comic book blockbusters. The original X-Men film managed to successfully lay in the groundwork of how these types of films can be a success without losing their comic book soul.

The sequel was a massive leap forward in both action and general cinematic quality. While the other sequels have received mixed reviews, it was clear that despite the reboot happy tendencies of modern hollywood. Fox remained committed to the continuity of the universe they established in 2000.

Just a few weeks ago The Avengers made more money than conceivable in its debut, representing the culmination of a five-year, 6 movie plan. The newly established ‘shared universe’ model demonstrated by Marvel Studios could be a new gold standard for what a studio can do with these types of properties.

So it is with that context that I present my plan for a smaller scale ‘shared X-universe’ that can allow Fox to use it’s already established property in an exciting new way.

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Even though Fox may have axed shows like Alcatraz and The Finder, they are at least going to be in the Seth MacFarlane business for a while longer. That’s right, the network has renewed Family Guy and American Dad for another season. Both will be getting 22 episode orders.

As for MacFarlane’s other show on Fox, The Cleveland Show, no word yet on if it will be getting another season, which would be its fifth. This is reportedly not because of the network’s lack of confidence in the show but rather because it already has quite a few episodes of it ready and the show is still in production.

The network is apparently waiting to see how next year’s schedule comes together before making a decision. Of course, that could just be a nice way of saying the show is going to be canceled but they just don’t want to tell anyone yet.

In other Fox animated news, The Simpsons already has a two-year renewal, Bob’s Burgers‘ third season pickup was announced in January, Allen Gregory has been canceled, and Napoleon Dynamite is still,as they say, “on the bubble.”

That’s okay, we’re just glad Family Guy is coming back. It’s a funny show that just seems to get better and better.

While Marvel may be raking it in and giving every other alien invasion movie a run for their money, Fox is definitely turning the genre on his head by way of Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller, & Vince Vaughn in the upcoming comedy The Watch.

Originally titled Neighborhood Watch, now shortened to The Watch, the film accentuates the one thing that most other alien invasion films are missing: dick jokes. Here’s the premise, for those who need that sort of thing.

A group of friends (Stiller, Vaughn, Hill, and Ayoade) form a neighborhood watch group for their suburb to allow them time to bond and escape from their families. However, when the group discovers a plot that threatens the entire world, they are forced to confront it head on.

Take a look at the trailer after the jump, and catch The Watch in theaters on July 27th.

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For all of you who have been buying into the ‘drama’ surrounding Prometheus’ ultimate rating, we have some good news for you. Fox has confirmed that the moody, dark and probably terrifying sci-fi film will indeed be rated R for sci-fi violence including intense images, and brief language.

Many people never believed that a PG-13 rating was possible for the subject matter, so when it took this long to get a confirmed rating people were getting nervous. It also didn’t help that Ridley Scott has been telling people conflicted things about the movie, the process and the rating for months now.

Speaking of which, Prometheus must be setting a new record for the most outright and open deception from a filmmaker to his audience. Scott has gone on record with several quotes that don’t seem to right based on the footage we are seeing. He already famously said the film would not be a prequel to Alien and only have a core DNA similarity with that franchise. Watching the trailer for 2 seconds pretty much disproves that concept.

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I’m probably going to see better comedies this year, but I don’t think I’m going to laugh at any one as much as I did at The Three Stooges. When I told that to my editors, they both wrote back in disbelief. I know the trailer got a massive amount of flack—the appearance of Snooki was a major criticism—but I’m not alone in my appreciation of the film. My colleague at SlashFilm, Jordan Hoffman, recently shared his like.

And it’s the Farrellys; after nearly 20 years of their films, have we learned to not underestimate them yet? Whatever. The movie is funny, very, very funny and, as Ebert noted in his review, is as good a film that could have been made about The Three Stooges. If you don’t like the original shorts, you probably won’t like it, but if you do, I think you’ll laugh a lot, because the Farrellys stay close to the source.

The plot is as shallow as any of the original shorts—the boys try to raise $830,000 to save an orphanage, getting caught up in several hair-brained, money-making schemes. That’s pretty much it. Of course one of those schemes involves an unwitting assassination, and Moe somehow ends up as the star of Jersey Shore; there’s Larry David as a put-upon nun (with a very pronounced New Jersey accent) and Jane Lynch as Mother Superior; a subplot involving an angry lion at the zoo and a sick kid at the orphanage.

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For twenty three years, longer than some of the readers of this site have been alive, one of the greatest mysteries on television has carried on with little to no hints as to the truth. Everyone knows who shot JR. Everyone found out the secret behind Twin Peaks.

The Cylons were revealed in Battlestar Galactica. We even all found out just where the survivors ended up in Lost. But no answer was harder to come by than which Springfield the Simpsons actually lived in.

For years, people tried to piece together the landmarks of Springfield and find out just where the Simpsons lived. Which city in the United States out of the 38 cities, towns and townships named Springfield had its own nuclear power plant, gorge, glacier and national forest that was also within driving distance to New York City? People quickly learned the answer is none, but that didn’t stop people from questioning where the Simpsons took place.

When talking to the Smithsonian Magazine, Groening was asked about the generic nature of the name Springfield. Groening replied that, “Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon. The only reason is that when I was a kid, the TV show Father Knows Best took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown.

When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, ‘This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.’ And they do.”

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Fox announced the renewal of three more of their series for next season.  The three series are freshman comedy New Girl, musical comedy Glee and family comedy Raising Hope.

These renewals mean a second season for New Girl, a third season for Raising Hope, and that Glee will get a fourth season. The three comedies join recently renewed Fox drama Bones.

“Over the past season, New Girl has become the hottest new appointment series for young adults; Raising Hope has established itself as one of the smartest and most unique offbeat comedies on television; and Glee has continued its success as a genre-defying, global cultural phenomenon,” said Fox’s entertainment president Kevin Reilly. “All three of these comedies add a fresh and distinctive flavor to our Tuesday nights, and I’m really happy to bring them back to our air next season.”

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Yep, The Hunger Games wins again. The mega-hit has fended off the advances of two strong opponents to retain it’s Box Office crown for at least one more week. Bringing in over $33 Million dollars over the Easter weekend The Hunger Games now stands at over $300 Million in just three weeks.

The rest of the top three this week were dominated by 90′s nostalgia fare. Both came out with respectable numbers, especially considering the context of their release. Even still, neither could muster enough bank to truly challenge for the top spot.

Coming in at second was the fourth theatrical American Pie film, American Reunion. While it is true that its $ 21.5 Million dollar take is not very impressive compared to the previous films, the release of any R-Rated, raunchy comedy on Easter weekend is going to suffer. Considering that, and the bad will the franchise suffered from a long stretch of poor direct-to-DVD spin off films, you have to look at American Reunion as a win.

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There is one unpleasant truth about the current wave of 3d Re-Releases hitting cinemas in the coming weeks, months and years. The door is now wide open for some directors to continually fiddle with their films post-release.

It is one thing to release a director’s cut, or advertise an alternate take on a film, but, as George Lucas has proved time and again, sometimes the filmmakers just make changes and don’t acknowledge previous versions at all. Cementing what ever current release as ‘the’ version of the movie everyone is meant to see. This rarely goes over well.

So has James Cameron gone down this potentially dark path with his new 3D Re-Release of Titanic? Well according The Telegraph, yes and no:

To be honest, I stopped watching Fox’s drama Bones around mid-season three. Now sure why but it happened, but it did. However, that hasn’t stopped the show from becoming a powerhouse ratings-wise for Fox.

In fact, the network loves the show so much they’ve just renewed it for an eights season. That’s right, no drawn out negotiations or nail biting here, just an early renewal for a show lots of people still seem to love.

“Over the past seven seasons, Hart Hanson, Stephen Nathan and the incredible Bones cast and crew have redefined the traditional crime procedural with an irreverent and adventurous sensibility and I’m really happy to have this distinctive, fan-favorite on our schedule for another season,” Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly said.

Well, there you have it. Look for Bones to return to Fox’s schedule next Monday with new episodes and then back in the Fall for a brand new season.

If you’re a fan of Fox’s Terra Nova, were disappointed the show has been cancelled but were holding out hope it would find a new lease on life at Netflix, get ready to be disappointed again. Sadly, a deal could not be reached between Netflix and 20th Century Fox TV and, to put it directly, Terra Nova is now extinct.

Well, almost. In one bit of interesting news, Fox has not yet released the show’s cast so that could mean they are still looking for a way to bring the show back. Or, they’re going to shop it to others.

Although, some of the show’s cast, including star Jason O’Mara, have already booked new gigs, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Even if O’Mara does get on another show, he could still be required to come back to Terra Nova if it ends up going somewhere else. He would have to honor his contract with Fox for the show.

Still, with Terra Nova costing a lot per episode and it not doing very well in the ratings, it’s very unlikely we will ever see the show again. . . except in reruns. It’s too bad, the show was actually starting to get interesting.

Netflix has its eye on ABC’s freshman drama The River, which is facing cancellation. Netflix is already in talks with 20th Century Fox TV about possibly picking up Terra Nova, which was recently cancelled by Fox, for a second season.

It’s being reported that the push for original content by the streaming giant is making them more willing to take risks on what they see as quality programming.  Netflix is currently negotiating with The River producer ABC Studios about the possibility of continuing the thriller/horror series.

It is being stressed that the talks are merely exploratory at this point and that the show has not officially been cancelled by ABC. Even though The River has not been officially canceled by ABC, it is widly considered a foregone conclusion.The talks are also part of a larger conversation between ABC Studios and Netflix for other undisclosed properties.

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