'Avatar 2' scribe Josh Friedman to write script for 'Fantastic Four' movie
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Los Angeles: Josh Friedman, who worked on "Avatar: The Way of Water" and created "Snowpiercer," has been chosen to write the Fantastic Four script for Marvel Studios.
According to hollywoodreporter.com, Matt Shakman, who served as the primary director for the Marvel television series WandaVision, has been tapped to helm the film, which is scheduled for release on February 14, 2025, and will serve as the beginning of Phase 6 of its canonical world.
'Fantastic Four' was the heroic team that introduced readers, and the world at large, to Marvel Comics and ushered in the Marvel Age, as the self-generated hype machine described it in the 1960s.
Written by editor Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby, Fantastic Four No. 1 brought forth Reed Richards, a scientist dedicated to his work and unafraid to push the boundaries of science; Sue Storm, his girlfriend-turned-wife; Johnny Storm, Sue's hothead and hot-rod-loving brother; and Ben Grimm, Richards' beefy best friend.
After an unauthorised trip into space and being irradiated with cosmic rays, they become heroes Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and The Thing, respectively.
Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were the previous writers on the project, and Friedman's hire signals a potential change in tone. Kaplan and Springer are neophyte scribes known for their comedy scripts.
Among the works they have in development are the Rebel Wilson comedy K-Pop: Lost in America and Disaster Wedding, which has Palm Springs filmmaker Max Barbakow attached to direct.
Friedman, on the other hand, is a veteran of the sci-fi genre.
He co-wrote 'War of the Worlds', the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise update on the H.G. Wells classic, and then acted as the writer-creator of 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles', the Terminator TV series that served as his first foray into the world of James Cameron.
Years later, he would return to work on 2019's 'Terminator: Dark Fateand' was one of the writers Cameron turned to for help in world-building and crafting stories for his multi-movie Avatar franchise.
With inputs from IANS