Bryan Singer to Return to X-Men Franchise with X-Men: First Class
Bryan Singer has been saying for a while now that he’d like to return to the X-Men franchise again after leaving X-Men 3 in order to direct Superman Returns a few years back. This week he has finally confirmed that he will indeed direct a new X-Men movie, and it will apparently be X-Men: First Class, a prequel of sorts that focuses on a young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, and Storm. The script was written by The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz.
This news comes courtesy of FlickChart, who posted via Twitter that Singer confirmed the deal while attending the “blue carpet” premiere of Avatar. Details are obviously still scarce at the moment, but it will be a part of the “X-Men Origins” series. It’s a bit surprising considering that Singer has so many other projects in the works (Jack the Giant Killer, Battlestar Galactica, Excalibur), but this may not happen right away. As far as I know, Jack the Giant Killer is still expected to be his next movie. Are you excited to see Bryan Singer back with the X-Men franchise or would you have preferred to see someone else direct?
Comments (7)
I’ve very excited about this. Singer always had a good grasp on this world, but he made his own films and didn’t try to please the fan boys. Sure certain things could have been done better here and there, but X2 is still considered one of the best comic films and I think for good reason.
Posted by Jurassicalien on December 17th, 2009Im curious what attracted him to an Xmen: first Class Origins over an Xmen 4. Or even Wolverine 2.
Posted by Captain N on December 17th, 2009I am guessing because with this movie he won’t have to follow up someone else’s handiwork and has a bit more freedom to do his own thing.
Posted by Sean on December 17th, 2009could only be a good thing..I would like to see him do a good film with Wolverine included…I am not really a comic book fan (i would like to be) I don’t know how strong the franchise is without wolverine?
Posted by xego on December 17th, 2009“..focuses on a young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, and Storm.”
just these 4 characters? not interested.
Posted by Napalm on December 18th, 2009I was kind of hoping for a different director, just to see what someone else can do with the characters.
Posted by Brendan on December 18th, 2009Singer had said he doesn’t like doing origin stories in movies, that he’d rather just do the sequel, which explains why X2 was better than X-Men and why Superman Returns tried to be Superman ‘2.5′.
I wasn’t crazy with his original casting choices for X-Men. I’m not a total comics purist, but Marsden as Cyclops never worked for me. Scott Summers in the comics was better as a clean cut, straight-laced, by-the-rules leader, where it seems like Marsden’s characterization was too “cool.”
The rest of the cast seemed a bit off, too. Like why did Storm have an African-type accent in the first movie, but not in the second? Hell, the one casting I liked the best, Jackman as Wolverine, wasn’t even Singer’s first choice! He was cast after Dougray Scott had to drop out because of his commitment to Mission Impossible 2.
Actually, I’d be far more interested in seeing someone new take on the project. Singer’s X-Men was solid, but it was also a little bland.
Posted by Ryan M. on December 19th, 2009Leave a Reply