Days of Future Past Billing order.

[X-Maniac]

I didn't even notice Hugh's name was above the title in the trailer until someone pointed it out. And my only reaction to it was bracing for inevitable griping that was sure to follow about it.

Again, I love this cast and it doesn't matter to me who goes where. DOFP has come up in conversation a few times with some friends and co-workers over the past, and not one of them asked about the billing. Really, no one cares.

But, still, that billing with Jackman in HUGE letters was a sign that Fox cannot let go of the actor or character. That overdependency is not good for the series, and ultimately it won't do them any good when they have to make films without Jackman.

I have no problem with Jackman, or with Wolverine, but I do think there is an over-reliance on the actor/character.

We still don't know why Storm is in the X-Men. We still don't really know why Nightcrawler ISN'T in the X-Men. We're all still wondering when Gambit WILL BE in the X-Men. We're all still waiting for Rogue to stop being a total drip and get on with being in the X-Men.

As for new characters - Blink, Sunspot, Bishop and Warpath are probably just cannon fodder in the future dystopia and Quicksilver doesn't exist in the future so he will simply come and go in a flash in the past.

It would be nice if the franchise had a little more stability other than the endless dominance by Wolverine.

I didn't watch the cartoons, or read the comics, just to see Wolverine strutting about being all mean and butch.

And no one was THAT bothered about the past of Mystique since she is usually known for her... well... mystique. It's interesting to see her fleshed out though there seems a violent jump from First Class insecure girl to Future Past acrobatic badass. We must presume she spent the ten year gap at a top gymnastic school.

 

[Loganbabe]

I really don't think that the majority of people who goes to the movies are interested in who is the top billing actor or even what "top billing" means in a film. They just want to have a good time. It's a discussion pertinent only to film forums, I think. It's funny to guess, and of course it's only natural to think that our favorites should come first.

 

[danoyse]

I really don't think that the majority of people who goes to the movies are interested in who is the top billing actor or even what "top billing" means in a film. They just want to have a good time. It's a discussion pertinent only to film forums, I think. It's funny to guess, and of course it's only natural to think that our favorites should come first.

And when you tell those people this conversation goes on in forums, they generally express gratitude that they don't visit film forums.

 

[jaymes_e06]

Not even Nicholas Hoult o.o

People saying Nicholas would be billed before Halle were living in some kind of parallel plane of existence.

 

[Loganbabe]

And when you tell those people this conversation goes on in forums, they generally express gratitude that they don't visit film forums.

True.

 

[jaymes_e06]

Downey Jr. wasn't made the sole central character. Poeple have a right to be pissed that he seems to be the only one important in a team film.

 

[danoyse]

Guys, this is a silly thing to argue over. Everyone has a favorite, and let's respect that without getting into any "my favorite is better than your favorite!" nonsense.

 

[X-Maniac]

I don't think it's to do with favourites as such. Xavier isn't one of my favourites, but I still think Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart deserve more prominence than Jackman. It was the McKellen/Stewart surprise appearance in The Wolverine that got people screaming, and the story centres on the two versions of Xavier and Magneto. Wolverine is 'just' a storytelling device about whom we already know everything there is to know.

And I still think that maybe more of the future X-Men should have gone to the past. Having Kitty somehow go there too would have boosted the female presence in the past scenes.

I also hope we get to see Rogue kick some butt, Colossus get some dimension, Iceman do something amazing and Storm do something dazzling before she probably bites the dust!

It might all work out fabulously. That's what we are all hoping.

 

[xDOFPx]

I'm not a Wolverine fan, but I can understand why Hugh got prominent top billing. Wolverine (whether we like it or not) is the biggest X-Men character and therefore Hugh is the biggest actor in the franchise (whether we like it or not). The character is the centre of the DOFP plot and spans both timelines, will no doubt have the most screen time - so who else was going to get top billing? seriously.

I'm okay with how they've billed the movie so far. I think Hugh has by size of role earned the top spot. And then the other 9 by importance of role, iconic status of character and fame of actor have also earned their spots in the trailer credits. Fox/Singer are trying to sell a product here, and you use your biggest assets. Wolverine/Hugh is their biggest when it comes to X-Men. The other 9 billed actors/characters are also Fox assets.

That doesn't mean I don't think they overuse Wolverine, I do. They vastly overuse him. But it is what it is.

 

[psylockolussus]

Jennifer Lawrence has delivered a bigger hit than he ever has.

I think he's not above any of the others, just about the same level.

Star Trek Into Darkness this summer audaciously recognized itself as an ensemble (even though Pine is clearly the lead character) and billed the cast alphabetically! So John Chu became the unlikely first billed of the cast. I think that was really cool.

X-Men movies are never gonna bill the cast alphabetically because they never did in the previous movies.

And obviously, the cast of Star Trek was billed alphabetically because of JJ Abrams. He was also an executive producer of Lost and in that show, the cast was billed alphabetically.

 

[The Chris]

I thought there was no doubt that Hugh would get first billed, he's an oscar nominated actor playing the most popular character and he's arguably the biggest star (even with Jennifer having Hunger Games I think it could be argued that the film would be that big no mattered who played katniss, though it made her well known and she made it more memorable, kind of like how the first X-Men made Hugh famous, just on a giant scale)

What I really liked was that the main 3 first class actors are billed right after him. I think that's an awesome sign for someone like me who loved McAvoy and Fassbender as Young Professor X and Young Magneto and even though Wolverine has always been my favorite character, their storyline and relationship has always been my favorite in that regard.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I thought there was no doubt that Hugh would get first billed, he's an oscar nominated actor playing the most popular character and he's arguably the biggest star (even with Jennifer having Hunger Games I think it could be argued that the film would be that big no mattered who played katniss, though it made her well known and she made it more memorable, kind of like how the first X-Men made Hugh famous, just on a giant scale)

What I really liked was that the main 3 first class actors are billed right after him. I think that's an awesome sign for someone like me who loved McAvoy and Fassbender as Young Professor X and Young Magneto and even though Wolverine has always been my favorite character, their storyline and relationship has always been my favorite in that regard.

I keep seeing that "The Hunger Games would have been popular no matter who they cast" as an argument against Lawrence rising career and I say so what? I could argue that X-Men and Les Miz would have done just as well without Jackman because of the uber popular source material. As you acknowledge Jackman was a nobody when he was cast as Wolverine so that film made him.

Jackman is the bigger star because he has been around longer, I'll fully acknowledge that but Lawrence did star in The Hunger Games she gets to bask in the glow of it's success just as much as Jackman gets to with the X-Men franchise. Silver Linings (Cooper was the true lead of the film but they promoted Lawrence the most and she was the leading lady of the picture) was a hit as well so it's not like she just has The Hunger Games and nothing else. Who knows where her career will end up but it's going pretty darn good right now.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

Billing order has got absolutely nothing to do with acting talent or "deserving". Wolverine is the biggest character of the series and will have a major role in the film. Hugh Jackman is the biggest (or one of the biggest) star of this cast. Put these two factors together and him being billed first is a no-brainer.

Though I totally understand the annoyance of him being billed separately to the rest of the cast, like there's Hugh Jackman/Wolverine and then there's all the rest.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

I don't really see how the billing question has been answered at all by the arrival of the trailer. It's all about how these actors are listed at the end credits. There's no way that Halle Berry and Anna Paquin are going to share the same line on that list. One of these actresses is going to be listed first and one will be listed second. Ditto for Ellen and Peter Dinklage. This trailer just shows audiences who the big names are in the film and their relevance to the film's story overall.

That said, I also believe that that end list is going to rank far differently with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan back up at the top behind Hugh Jackman, and followed by James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. I say this because four of those five male actors are essentially playing two characters. Halle Berry and Anna Paquin will follow Jennifer (which is odd/sad because these three ladies all have Oscars and yet are ranked below actors who have none).

The billing is being driven more by the CHARACTERS' roles in this film rather than sheer star power....at least that's how it appears.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

I think that the final billing will retain the "and" for Stewart and McKellen.

 

[Antihero]

Hugh Jackman is the biggest star in the cast of DOFP.So he deserves top billing

 

[Mars123]

I think the 'and' billing is an important part of any billing especially when respecting older actors. It's almost as important ast the top billing.

 

[danoyse]

I think the 'and' billing is an important part of any billing especially when respecting older actors. It's almost as important ast the top billing.

Anna Paquin got the "and" in the end credits of the first film, and she was the youngest. But she got that because she was the Oscar winner of the cast at the time.

Hugh was actually billed before Ian McKellen in the first film. I remember an interview where he mentioned how that seemed wrong, and his agent joked not to argue about it.

 

[Dark Raven]

Anna Paquin got the "and" in the end credits of the first film, and she was the youngest. But she got that because she was the Oscar winner of the cast at the time.

Hugh was actually billed before Ian McKellen in the first film. I remember an interview where he mentioned how that seemed wrong, and his agent joked not to argue about it.

Do you have a link to that?

 

[danoyse]

Do you have a link to that?

I read it years ago, I can't remember where it was.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

I for one am not surprised at all that Hugh had top billing for this film. He, along with Halle Berry received those positions for X3 and I believe Ian and Patrick rounded out the top four. I don't believe that Halle has as big of a role in this film (I personally believe that Storm will lose her life at some point in the storyline) so I wouldn't expect her to be in in the top 5. But that being said, I also don't see James McAvoy or Michael Fassbender being billed before their film counterparts--it makes more sense that Patrick would be listed first, then James, then Ian, then Michael, etc.

I think that the final billing will retain the "and" for Stewart and McKellen.

I agree. Also, it's interesting to note that the "And" honor is not listed in the final scrolling credits. The actor(s) is moved upward into the overall listing towards the top rung of billing. For example, Anna Paquin was listed with her castmates in the final billing for both X-Men and X2--but not last. The link below explains my point:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290334/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_13
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120903/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1

Patrick Stewart recieved the "And" distinction for X3, but the final billing does rank him with the other actors:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376994/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_4

Expect the same to happen with this film. We won't know the exact billing order for these actors until the scrolling credits arrive for this film--the trailer released this week is not a real indication of anything.

 

[xDOFPx]

I for one am not surprised at all that Hugh had top billing for this film. He, along with Halle Berry received those positions for X3 and I believe Ian and Patrick rounded out the top four. I don't believe that Halle has as big of a role in this film (I personally believe that Storm will lose her life at some point in the storyline) so I wouldn't expect her to be in in the top 5. But that being said, I also don't see James McAvoy or Michael Fassbender being billed before their film counterparts--it makes more sense that Patrick would be listed first, then James, then Ian, then Michael, etc.



I agree. Also, it's interesting to note that the "And" honor is not listed in the final scrolling credits. The actor(s) is moved upward into the overall listing towards the top rung of billing. For example, Anna Paquin was listed with her castmates in the final billing for both X-Men and X2--but not last. The link below explains my point:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290334/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_13
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120903/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1

Patrick Stewart recieved the "And" distinction for X3, but the final billing does rank him with the other actors:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376994/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_4

Expect the same to happen with this film. We won't know the exact billing order for these actors until the scrolling credits arrive for this film--the trailer released this week is not a real indication of anything.

It is an indication of which characters are probably the most important to or impacting on the plot, regardless of actual screen minutes. And which characters/actors that Fox/Singer see as the most iconic.

It wouldn't surprise me if the movie credits are something very similar. But with Nicholas and Shawn probably slotted in there aswell. Then everyone else after that before the 'And' and 'With' credits which I have a feeling Ian and Patrick will get.

 

[Bim]

Guys, this is a silly thing to argue over. Everyone has a favorite, and let's respect that without getting into any "my favorite is better than your favorite!" nonsense.

Agreed.

 

[JackMercy]

Anna Paquin got the "and" in the end credits of the first film, and she was the youngest. But she got that because she was the Oscar winner of the cast at the time.

Hugh was actually billed before Ian McKellen in the first film. I remember an interview where he mentioned how that seemed wrong, and his agent joked not to argue about it.

Yeah, and I'm sure Hugh's learned better by now -- his agent will have had a little something to do with his above-the-title-billing for DOFP. That's not all FOX, folks... Hugh's currently one of the most popular/successful film stars in the world, and yes, his role in this one seems pretty central, but it's a combination of things: Singer likes him, the studio of course likes him, general audiences still like him...so his billing for this one makes complete sense.

It is a silly thing to argue over -- it's all very obvious.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I don't think that anybody is arguing that the star of the film and franchise shouldn't be billed first. Of Jackman should be billed first, it's his film. I don't even care if his name comes before the title I was just basically lamenting how sad it is to me that a movie series that is supposed to be about a team seems to be only about one character.