“Logan” Director Concerned About Fox Deal

James Mangold, director of this year’s surprise hit Logan, is concerned about the possibility of Disney buying the X-Men franchise from Fox, feeling that they will now allow as much creative freedom.

While the terms of the possible deal are not entirely clear, Fox reportedly wants to sell Disney most of their television and movie properties, which are worth an astounding $60 billion. This would include such notable intellectual properties as The Simpsons, James Cameron’s Avatar movies and, most notably for superhero fans, the movie rights to X-Men and maybe Fantastic Four, which under Disney could be returned to their Marvel roots.

At an awards season event, Deadline asked Mangold about the deal, along with X-Men actors Sir Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier/Professor X) and Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine).

Jackman, who has expressed a desire to retire from his character, has shown interest in seeing a new actor take over the role and possibly get to interact with other Marvel characters like the Avengers. Mangold, however, was less enthusiastic.

“If they’re actually changing their mandate, if what they’re supposed to do alters, that would be sad to me because it just means less movies,” he said.

Part of the problem, it seems, is that Logan, as well as the other recent Fox hit Deadpool, finally found their niche by specifically targeting an adult audience, with more violence and heavier themes. One of the concerns that people have raised about the Fox deal is that the Mouse House might not let that continue, especially if they want to add those properties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is generally upbeat and family friendly.

“The real thing that happens when you make a movie rated R, behind the scenes, is that the studio has to adjust to the reality that there will be no Happy Meals. There will be no action figures,” Mangold explained. “The entire merchandising, cross-pollinating side of selling the movie to children is dead before you even start. And when that’s dead, it means you’re making a grown-up movie.”

It remains to be seen whether or not the deal will even go through, and if so, its implications for the grittier sort of movies that Fox managed to make successful.