Long-time X-Men franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner, credited on every X-production on both the big and small screen, is open to a crossover with Disney-owned Marvel Studios’ Avengers franchise.
“Sure, why not?” Shuler Donner told Rotten Tomatoes during the Television Critics Association winter press tour.
“Look, it’s 18 months [away], so who knows,” Shuler Donner said. “For me, I think [Disney CEO] Bob Iger is one of the smartest men in the country. [Walt Disney Studios Chairman] Alan Horn’s an old friend. [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige was my intern and assistant and then my associate producer on the first X-Men. Kevin and I started the X-Men together, so for me if we work with Kevin, I’m happy.”
Disney agreed to purchase 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets for $52.4 billion in December.
Both companies expect the regulatory process around the deal to take 12 to 18 months, after which time Fox’s leased Marvel properties — the X-Men, Deadpool, and the Fantastic Four — will be brought into the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe, home to properties like The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man.
Feige, now the visionary chief behind Marvel Studios’ interconnected franchise, once had a plan for the X-Men that studio Fox opted not to follow. Feige is reportedly eager to utilize the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Fox will release X-Men spinoff The New Mutants in April, followed by its Deadpool sequel in June. X-Men: Dark Phoenix, from franchise vet and first-time director Simon Kinberg, opens in November.
Walt Disney Studios releases Avengers: Infinity War in May, uniting most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time.
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