‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ Writer Seth Grahame-Smith Polishing ‘Fantastic Four’

Following the success of their relaunch of the mutant franchise with 2011’s “X-Men: First Class,” 20th Century Fox decided last year to reboot the critically maligned “Fantastic Four” series with “Chronicle” director Josh Trank at the helm. With a Spring 2015 release date already scheduled and no shooting start date set, the studio has hired a writer to give the script a good once-over.

THR is reporting that “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” author and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith — he adapted his own novel —  has been tapped by the studio to do some rewrite work on Jeremy Slater’s last draft for the superhero film. It’s not the first time a studio has asked the author-turned-screenwriter to take over writing duties for someone, as he retained the sole screenwriting credit for Tim Burton’s adaptation of “Dark Shadows,” though he shared the “story by” credit with the project’s first writer, John August.

While we were pleasantly surprised by Trank’s directorial debut, Grahame-Smith’s short body of work is less than stellar and heavy on creatures of the night: the aforementioned soap opera-adaptation “Dark Shadows” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” Is the third time the charm?

Plot details are under wraps but the new take on the “Fantastic Four” franchise will allegedly take “a grounded superhero and sci-fi approach to the heroes and will tap deep into the comics mythology,” which is studio-speak for “We’ll do it better this time, geeks.” The reboot will arrive in theatres in two years time on March 6th, 2015.