You know I was pretty hum-ho about this next X-men film for a while right? I constantly remind everyone that I think First Class was overrated, and the prior 2 films in the X-universe were watchable but not re-watchable. The next film is in the franchise, Days of Future Past, has potential to shape into something that seems comparable to The Avengers in scope, size, and downright awesomeness. We already heard that Matthew Vaughn won’t be directing the film and instead Bryan Singer will be directing instead. Coincidentally this was an announced idea by producer Lauren Schuler Donnor ages ago. We learned yesterday that X-alum’s Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have both signed to reprise roles in the film as well, but the latest news is making the cast of this film seem downright uncanny:
Sources confirm that Hugh Jackman is in negotiations to reprise his Wolverine role in the movie, which is ostensibly a sequel to X-Men: First Class but will prominently feature actors from the first X-Men trilogy (the first two of which Singer directed).
Days of Future Past is a classic storyline that unfolded in two issues of Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men in 1981, from writer Chris Claremont and artists John Byrne and Terry Austin. The story was partially set in an alternate future where surviving mutants have been penned in concentration camps, giant robots called Sentinels patrol America, and most of the X-Men have been hunted and killed. In the present day, the X-Men were forced to stop a key event from unfolding in order to keep that future from occurring.
Now I love the idea of getting Jackman back. He’s been the anchor of the X-franchise since the first film, and Bryan Singer was right to cast him as Wolverine at the last minute. He’s been a runaway success in the role and as a result they couldn’t even make First Class without at least a cameo from the guy. I hope they take the idea a step further and bring in more characters. Hell, bring everyone back for another movie. If they bring back Anna Paquin as well as figure out a way to get James Marsden, Liev Schrieber, and Famke Jannsen in there and I might have trouble forming sentences due to nerd-gasms.
Now I’m wondering where this film lies as far as Donnor’s previous statements when talking about an X4. In my eyes I kinda see this next movie as an “X4/First Class 2” hybrid but I clearly remember the following statement from Donnor:
It’s been mentioned that she’s not yet finished with producing these X-Men films, and was recently re-iterating her intent to produce the further adventures of X-Men with more sequels.
We took the treatment to Fox and they love it… And X4 leads into X5…
Now where on earth does this leave us? Was First Class the X4 she was talking about? Is Days of Future Past X5, cus if so then I kinda understand her statement but if not does this mean that there are still more X-movies currently in active development beyond “Days of Future Past”? These are the questions, we want answers.
Source: Film Drunk
