X-Men: Apocalypse, though it did make money for Fox, was a pretty big disappointment for a lot of fans and failed to live up to X-Men: Days of Future Past, both in terms of box office and acclaim. Were it not for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice giving fanboys and fangirls something more worthy to complain about, X-Men: Apocalypse may have seemed like more of a failure. So now Fox needs to decide what to do with X-Men 7.

The Hollywood Reporter recently published an article updating some of Fox's plans for the future of the X-Men franchise. Writer and producer Simon Kinberg is reportedly currently working on the script for X-Men 7. It was rumored to take place in the 90s and be partially set in outer space. The only potential problem is that stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michael FassbenderNicholas Hoult and James McAvoy all had their contracts expire with X-Men: Apocalypse. So, will Fox try and bring them back for X-Men 7?

The report didn't make a definitive statement either way, but it did note that Fox's new chairman Stacey Snider will have a tough choice to make on that one. Odds are that the four stars, all of whom are in high-demand right now, won't return to the X-Men franchise cheap. So is it worth shelling out a lot of money to bring them back when signs would point to the franchise, as it stands, being in decline? It is hard to say. But with Logan being Hugh Jackman's last go as Wolverine next year, X-Men 7 could really benefit from some recognizable stars. Fox also brought on Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops and several others for X-Men: Apocalypse, so there is a good chance some of the newer cast members will return.

But the report also notes that this new movie that Simon Kinberg is currently working on will be a bit of a "reset" for the X-Men series. It looks like main X-Men movies will be "reconfigured," which sounds like a way of saying that Fox will once again be doing a soft reboot of the franchise. They also did something similar with X-Men: First Class in 2011. They will also be looking for a new director to helm X-Men 7, because Bryan Singer isn't expected to return. It looks like he will be busy directing the long -gestating Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody instead.

Outside of the main X-Men series, Fox is moving ahead with Deadpool 2 without director Tim Miller, who departed the project recently over "creative differences." Not only that, but according to the same report, the studio is already looking at doing Deadpool 3, which will introduce the mutant team X-Force into the movies. Outside of that, Channing Tatum's Gambit is still on the shelf for now but Josh Boone may be shooting The New Mutants next spring. Fox has not set a release date for X-Men 7 yet. So even if Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and James McAvoy return, they will have to be aged up quite a bit. Or Fox can just ignore the timeline issues like they have been doing. Either way.