Fantastic Four writer wants to fix mistakes, reunite original cast for sequel

Simon Kinberg, the writer behind Fox's X-Men: Apocalypse and the failed Fantastic Four reboot, says he has plans for a sequel and would like to see the original cast reunite for it.

Kinberg told Den of Geek that despite the obvious flaws in the first film, which grossed a dismal $168 million at the box office, he thought there was potential for a sequel. Kinberg also said that one of the factors they wanted to focus on going forward was staying truer to the original tone of the Fantastic Four and not try to make it feel like an X-Men movie.

"I think we tried to make a darker Fantastic Four movie, which seemed like a radical idea but we were kind of messing with the DNA of the actual comic instead of trusting the DNA of the comic," Kinberg said.

To make it feel a bit different from Fox's mutant franchise, Kinberg said the new Fantastic Four movie — which has not been greenlit by the studio at this time — should be funnier and lighter. To do so, Kinberg was adamant that the original cast could pull it off, and added that he loved working with them as a group.

Still Kinberg admitted that it was going to be a tough battle to win Fox over.

"We're working really on figuring that out," he said when asked about what it would take. "Nothing would make me happier than to see the world embrace a Fantastic Four movie."

Kinberg's latest film, X-Men: Apocalypse, is set to open May 27 in theaters, and if that movie is successful, it may give the director the leverage he needs to ask for a sequel. Whether the original cast, which includes Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell, would be up for it is an entirely different question.