Disney has announced plans to reboot at least five Fox franchises. This reboot initiative stems from the Disney acquiring 21st Century Fox in March as well as the House of Mouse's decision to regroup after seeing big financial losses in their third fiscal quarter, due in part to the under-performing Fox films released after the merger.
Shortly after the Disney-Fox deal finalized, the would-be final X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix, released in theaters and utterly flopped at the box office - both domestically and globally. It resulted in a significant loss for Disney, which was exacerbated by the releases for Tolkien and Stuber, both of which under-performed by Disney's standards.
And so, in order to prevent further flops from happening, Disney plans on diving deep into Fox's library and seeing what they can leverage to start fresh on the big screen, which means more reboots are on the way. Here's what we know about the Fox franchises Disney plans to reboot, including what respective directions each movie could take.
Home Alone
Disney pegging the Home Alone franchise as one of its planned Fox reboots is a huge gamble, largely thanks to the popularity of the first two movies, both of which starred Macaulay Culkin. Everything began with 1990's Home Alone. The movie followed Kevin McAllister, a young boy who was accidentally left behind while the rest of his family went to Paris for Christmas. Not only was Kevin on his own but he had to outsmart two dim-witted home invaders who were trying to break into his house.
The first Home Alone movie was a hit, leading to a second one also starring Culkin, 1992's Home Alone: Lost in New York. Three non-Culkin-starring sequels rounded out the franchise: Home Alone 3 (1997), Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002), and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012). Home Alone 3 was the last movie in the series to have a wide theatrical release, while the fourth and fifth installments debuted as made-for-TV movies. Despite the success of the Culkin-led films, the latter three Home Alone entries have failed to gain any substantial popularity or high regard from the public.
Despite Culkin and co-star Joe Pesci cheekily referencing their Home Alone roles for a series of recent Google Home ads, it's unlikely they or other franchise stars would return for the reboot. Based on how Home Alone is regarded today, this Disney reboot will no doubt be watched closely as fans scrutinize casting, directing, and story decisions as it develops.
Cheaper By The Dozen
Another Disney pick for their Fox franchise reboot plan is the Steve Martin-fronted Cheaper By the Dozen (2003) and its sequel, Cheaper By the Dozen 2 (2005). Interestingly, the first film is actually a remake of the 1950 movie of the same name starring popular actors of the day Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy, though it's the 2003 movie that's most well-known today.
The first Cheaper By the Dozen movie followed the Baker family, led by parents Tom (Martin) and Kate (Bonnie Hunt). They and their 11 children relocated to a new town after Tom landed a new job. Things got increasingly hectic when Kate, a novelist, went on a book tour. Tom was left behind to care for their kids, ranging from 6 to 18 years old (excluding the eldest, who was already in her early 20s). The sequel upped the ante by introducing another large family, the Murtaghs. The Bakers found themselves locked in a game of one-upping the Murtaghs while both families were on vacation.
It's highly unlikely anyone from the original Cheaper By the Dozen cast would return for Disney's reboot. However, Disney could easily put together a promising cast and crew for the reboot considering they're known for more family-friendly titles. That said, Disney hasn't actually stated what their specific plans are for the Cheaper By the Dozen reboot.
Night At The Museum
The Night at the Museum movies are based on the 1993 children's book of the same name, by Milan Trenc. Ben Stiller has been the face of the franchise since the first movie, Night at the Museum, premiered in 2006. Stiller played Larry Daley, a nighttime security guard for the Museum of Natural History who discovers the exhibits actually come to life when the sun goes down. The family-comedy was successful enough to spawn two sequels: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014). In addition to Stiller, the franchise's regular cast members included Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Dick Van Dyke, and Mickey Rooney.
There have been no announcements on where Disney would take the Night at the Museum story next, but it's certainly a prime candidate for another family-friendly adventure. It's also unclear if any previous cast members (excluding Williams, who sadly died in 2014) would return to the franchise. However, just like with other Fox reboots Disney is planning on doing, a cameo wouldn't be out of the cards.
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise is based on the popular children's book series of the same name, by Jeff Kinney. There are three movies in the franchise, all released in quick succession: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010), Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011), and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012).
The franchise starred Zachary Gordon (Star Wars Rebels) as the titular wimpy kid Greg Heffley, a young boy who was transitioning from elementary to middle school and trying to figure out a way to survive all of the new rules and complicated social hierarchies. The Wimpy Kid sequels went deeper into Greg's world. The second movie, Rodrick Rules, followed the misguided attempts of Greg's parents to have him bond with his older brother, Rodrick. The third movie, Dog Days, looked at everything that went mostly wrong (and occasionally right) during Greg's summer vacation.
To date, Kinney has written a whopping sixteen Wimpy Kid novels so there is plenty of material available for Disney to mine from when they begin developing a reboot. That said, it's unclear what path the studio will take with the reboot: whether they choose to start fresh or simply continue where Fox left off.
Planet Of The Apes
Disney has plans for more Planet of the Apes movies. Based on the 1963 science fiction novel La Planète des Singes, the first Planet of the Apes movie debuted in 1968 and starred Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, and Roddy McDowall. The movie spawned four sequels and one short-lived TV show, with the franchise seemingly coming to an end in 1974. A Planet of the Apes remake - from director Tim Burton and starring Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter - arrived in 2001, but it failed to produce any additional films.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes. launched Fox's rebooted trilogy in 2011, with Andy Serkis using mo-cap to play the titular ape Caesar. It garnered two sequels, the last of which released in 2017. And now, Disney is looking to take the series even further. While they've let most of Fox's projects fall by the wayside, it seems like they're keeping their word to add more Planet of the Apes installments to the franchise. Every new adaptation cycle of Planet of the Apes has made tweaks to the fundamental elements of the story. With this in mind, Disney could cook up a new origin story to explain how apes rose up as the dominant species over humans in the future.
X-Men & Fantastic Four
The X-Men series is one of the biggest franchises under Fox's belt. Beginning with 2000's X-Men and seemingly concluding with 2019's Dark Phoenix, though there is still New Mutants on the way, Fox's X-Men franchise has spanned two full decades and more than a dozen movies, most of which have been financially successful. But now that the rights to the X-Men are back with Marvel Studios, the mutants will soon be rebooted within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Logically, there will be zero connection to the previous franchise, with the sole exception of maybe Deadpool.
Along with the X-Men is the Fantastic Four, a team that will also be rebooted in the MCU. However, while the X-Men series has seen its fair share of critically-acclaimed installments, there is not one Fantastic Four movie that wasn't critically derided upon release. So it makes sense that Marvel Studios would want to focus on bringing Marvel's First Family to the big screen first, before they begin working on the X-Men.