Following the news that Bryan Singer has been fired as the director of the Freddie Mercury biopic, it appears that Fox is going a step further and terminating the relationship with Singer entirely. It seems that Singer's production company, Bad Hat Harry, which had its offices on the Fox lot, is on the way out.
Following a halt to production of Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, it was announced yesterday that Bryan Singer had been fired from the film with about three weeks left in in its shooting schedule. While some reports claim that the director and star Rami Malek were combative on-set, Singer claims he was fired only after the studio refused to give him time off to help deal with a sick family member. Singer did not return to the set following Thanksgiving, and the studio made the decision to terminate him.
While the complete removal of Bad Hat Harry from the Fox lot may seem like an extreme reaction, it apparently was going to happen anyway, it's just taking place sooner than expected. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bryan Singer's deal with Fox actually expired in October, but he worked out an extension with them to keep his offices on the lot until he was done directing Bohemian Rhapsody. Well, regardless of the reason, Singer is now done directing Bohemian Rhapsody, so it's time for the offices to close.
Bryan Singer's relationship with Fox goes back to the original X-Men movie in 2000. Since then the company has been involved in the production of the rest of the X-Men film franchise, which Singer has also mostly directed, as well as the brand's recent expansion onto television including Legion and The Gifted. With the decision not to renew Singer's deal, that relationship was already going to come to an end. Bad Hat Harry is currently listed as one of the production companies behind the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix. It's unclear where that association currently stands.
No announcement has been made yet about who will be taking over as director for the rest of Bohemian Rhapsody 's final shooting schedule as well as post-production. Fox will almost certainly get a replacement in there as quickly as possible if only to keep the film from being delayed any more than it already has.
It doesn't appear that Bad Hat Harry had any sort of follow-up deal after the Fox partnership came to an end, so exactly where the company goes from here, in a physical sense, is unknown. Considering the way that Bryan Singer exited Fox, it's possible the production company could have a more difficult time finding a new studio that will let them set up shop. At this point, it's a bit early to tell.
