Simon Kinberg, writer and producer of X-Men films

An exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter announced that Simon Kinberg, co-producer of X-Men: First Class and writer-producer of the follow-up Days of Future Past, will also write and produce Fox’s planned reboot of the Fantastic Four films.

Kinberg will join fellow producer Matthew Vaughn, who directed and wrote First Class and will produce and write Days of Future Past. Josh Trank will direct the Fantastic Four movie. While a number of writers have been attached to the project, THR’s source said that Kinberg could “(overhaul) the script substantially.”

Fox’s previous two Fantastic Four films both received overwhelmingly negative critical receptions. Since then, much of the superhero movie buzz has shifted to Marvel Movie-verse and DC’s attempts to replicate that success. Fox, however, needs to keep making Fantastic Four films in order to ensure that the movie rights to the franchise do not revert back to Marvel and by extension Disney (the same applies to the X-Men and Wolverine). Despite these films likely coming from studio mandate, lately Fox seems determined to keep proven talent working on their superhero projects. X-Men: First Class was a financial and critical success and helped erase memories of the poorly received X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Getting Vaughn and Kindberg involved in Fantastic Four could indicate a desire to make solid-performing superhero movies even if they cannot compete with the hype surrounding The Avengers or the potential Justice League movies.