A year and a half ago, I posed the question of whether Bryan Singer could return to the
X-Men franchise to
helm X-Men 4. At the time, he revealed he was in talks with Fox and expressed his love for the franchise and cast. It only seemed fitting that he we return to right the ship, so to speak, for a franchise he established.
We all know now he later signed on to direct the prequel,
X-Men: First Class, instead and following an interesting turn of events, he had to
drop out of the director’s chair due to at-the-time scheduling conflicts for Warner Bros.’
Jack the Giant Killer. Well, we may have been right from the start regarding Singer because
X-Men 4 is still in development… and so is
X-Men 5!
Obsessed With Film shared a tidbit from the latest issue of
Empire Magazine, which featured a very intriguing and buzz-worthy quote from
X-Men franchise producer, Lauren Shuler-Donner.
“We took the treatment to Fox and they love it… And X4 leads into X5″
She explains that the films are in “active development” and what that truly means is anyone’s guess but franchise Lauren Shuler-Donner has been talking up her interest in
X-Men 4 for quite some time now. Dating back to the home video release of
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, she revealed that she was
working on plans for an X-Men 4 which would bring back the cast we’re all so familiar with from the trilogy.
This is however, the first we’ve heard of
X-Men 5 so we can connect the dots and assume the plan would be to film both back-to-back, the only logical way to keep costs under control.
X-Men: The Last Stand cost $210 million back in 2006 and it sucked.
The big question mark is if
X-Men trilogy staples Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Shawn Ashmore and Famke Janssen return alongside
X-Men 3‘s added mutants played by Ellen Page, Ben Foster and Kesley Grammer. We all know Berry’s need for screentime and Paquin’s appropriate desire to actually become the Rogue we know from the comics and partake in the action. Plus, a few of these characters may need to return from the “dead,” including Cyclops who was never allowed to become the leader he was meant to be.
It’s going to be expensive and they’d need to find the right director to handle such a large project. Someone like Bryan Singer…
From Bryan Singer almost two years ago:
“I’m eternally intertwined with X-Men now… What takes an audience four hours to watch – the first two movies – took six years of my life. So, to not be part of it….It’s a shame.”
Fast forward almost a year later, and in an interview alongside Donner, he joked about
wanting to take on X-Men 4:
“Hold that one off for just a little, I’m fixated on the other one right now.”
Singer’s got a lot on his plate at the moment, but
Jack the Giant Killer is currently his only project filming, with casting underway and a release date already set. His other two directorial gigs include
Battlestar Galactica and
Excalibur, both in pre-production with no timelines or casts as of yet.
Looking at Fox’s timelines, they have
X-Men: First Class this year, potentially
The Wolverine next year with a question mark around the dates for
Deadpool. Assuming it’d take them two years to get underway on the
X-Men 4-5 double feature, Singer is a legitimate contender for the job and I have no doubt he and Donner have spoken about it. I would like to see him return and finally have the opportunity to take advantage of unused ideas for what
X-Men 3 could have been.
Check our some of our thoughts from before on
what we need from X-Men 4. What overarching storyline could (or should)
X-Men 4 & 5 tackle?
t:
Its coming guys, we told you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
