Theweepeople
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I found an interesting timeline of the events that took place between X2 and X3 on a blog website. The most interesting part is the last paragraph where Laura Donner talks about how the budget spiraled out of control after Matthew Vaughn left the project.
The following timeline was constructed to give us a glimpse into what was supposed to have been a done deal for Fox (i.e. Bryan Singer helming X3) turning into a high stakes gamble of finding a new director late in the game.
May 4, 2003 - Opening weekend of X-Men 2 does $85m business in the US.
Dec 4, 2003 - Director Bryan Singer inks an overall deal with 20th Century Fox to develop projects he'll direct and produce. Singer separately begins negotiations to return for a third installment of the "X-Men" franchise. The two-year deal is the first studio pact for Singer. Singer will have an office on The Lot. The WMA-repped Singer joins the roster of directors with overall pacts at Fox: Peter and Bobby Farrelly, James Cameron, Ridley and Tony Scott and Mel Gibson.
Mar 4, 2004 - Variety.com reports that Bryan Singer will direct a remake of "Logan's Run" for Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver. Singer, who just signed an overall deal at Fox, is expected to tackle "Logan's Run" before he gets back to the "X-Men" franchise.
July 16, 2004 - Variety.com reports on Sun., July 18, 2004 that Bryan Singer signed a deal on Friday, July 16, 2004 to develop and direct the long-gestating new pic in Warner Bros' star-crossed Superman franchise. Based on Aug 5, 2004 Variety report Warner made a pay-or-play offer to Singer if he'd consent to make Superman fly post-haste. Insiders said that Warner deal is not an expensive one, because Singer only develops projects he plans on shooting and is not the sort of producer who develops numerous projects or demands a hefty discretionary fund. Fox ends its deal with Singer. While Singer doesn't believe that Fox studio chairmen Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos had the legal right to terminate his deal, he isn't going to contest the studio's request that he vacate his offices on the Fox lot.
March 21, 2005 - 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment choose British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn ("Layer Cake") to direct "X-Men 3." Alex Young is overseeing "X-Men 3" for Fox, which is aiming for a Memorial Day May 26, 2006, release date.
May 31, 2005 - 20th Century Fox announces Matthew Vaughn departure from X-Men 3.
June 3, 2005 - Variety.com reports on Sun., Jun. 5, 2005 that Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment set Brett Ratner on Friday night, June 3, 2005 to replace Matthew Vaughn as the director of "X3," the third installment of the "X-Men" franchise.
June 6, 2005 - Brett Ratner takes over the directing helm.
Aug 1, 2005 - Production on X-Men 3 begins. www.filmstew.com cites this date.
May 26, 2006 - Release date for X-Men 3: The Last Stand
May 29, 2006 - Opening weekend of X-Men 3: The Last Stand does $122m in the US. Figures are from http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/boxoffice and covers May 26-29.
Sources: www.imdb.com; www.variety.com; www.filmstew.com; www.yahoo.com
The crucial period of interest is the 7 months between Dec 4, 2003 and July 16, 2004. For reasons yet unknown Fox could not get Singer's signature for X3.
Note that in the 3 months between Dec 4, 2003 and Warner's successful poaching of Singer on Mar 4, 2004 Fox did not announce a single project that it would do together with Singer. The subsequent 4+ months from Mar 4, 2004 to Jul 16, 2004 saw Fox failing to announce any Singer project - not even X3.
The timeline seems to suggest that Warner had successfully used "Logan's Run" as the wedge to pry Singer away from Fox. The "Superman" deal was Warner's coup de grace. It also appears to suggest a degree of complacency on Fox's part in managing talent.
Note that Mr. Singer worked in 2004 as executive producer and director on "House MD", a Universal production on the Fox network. According to an AICN interview (published on 2004-10-12), Mr. Singer stated that the film side of Fox is completely separate from the television side of Fox.
Please reference the Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002539112) for X3 producer Lauren Shuler Donner's comments on whom she holds responsible for the production's difficulties.
Please note that credit and thanks goes to Nina Kincaid of www.flixen.com for the link to the Hollywood Reporter article and the accompanying excerpts.
Portions of the article are replicated as follows.
But Singer leaving to do "Superman Returns" -- which he discussed openly with Shuler Donner and her husband Dick Donner, the director of the 1978 "Superman"-- was tough to take. Particularly since he took all his unexpressed ideas for "X-Men 3" with him. "It was a blow," Shuler Donner admits. "He's my friend, I respect him, and saw us doing all the 'X-Men.' "
Donner goes on to talk about Vaughn's departure and the impact that had on the production:
After the production replaced Singer with Vaughn, the new director worked closely with the writers. Even though Shuler Donner is still furious with Vaughn for leaving, she confirms Kinberg's assertion that Vaughn contributed some brainpower to the script. "We cast Kelsey Grammer with Matthew," she admits, "who was fantastic, and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut. We were lucky to have him."
But Vaughn's departure threw a monkey wrench into a huge $150 million production that was already stretching its resources to meet its opening date. "Then suddenly, weeks of prep time were lost," she says. "It killed us. It was an extremely desirable release date. There was no way we were going to miss that date. We had to protect it by any means possible." Go off that date and "X-Men 3" would bump into the likes of such other summer releases as Singer's own "Superman Returns" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
http://www.dvdtown.com/messageboard/topic/1/23285/
The following timeline was constructed to give us a glimpse into what was supposed to have been a done deal for Fox (i.e. Bryan Singer helming X3) turning into a high stakes gamble of finding a new director late in the game.
May 4, 2003 - Opening weekend of X-Men 2 does $85m business in the US.
Dec 4, 2003 - Director Bryan Singer inks an overall deal with 20th Century Fox to develop projects he'll direct and produce. Singer separately begins negotiations to return for a third installment of the "X-Men" franchise. The two-year deal is the first studio pact for Singer. Singer will have an office on The Lot. The WMA-repped Singer joins the roster of directors with overall pacts at Fox: Peter and Bobby Farrelly, James Cameron, Ridley and Tony Scott and Mel Gibson.
Mar 4, 2004 - Variety.com reports that Bryan Singer will direct a remake of "Logan's Run" for Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver. Singer, who just signed an overall deal at Fox, is expected to tackle "Logan's Run" before he gets back to the "X-Men" franchise.
July 16, 2004 - Variety.com reports on Sun., July 18, 2004 that Bryan Singer signed a deal on Friday, July 16, 2004 to develop and direct the long-gestating new pic in Warner Bros' star-crossed Superman franchise. Based on Aug 5, 2004 Variety report Warner made a pay-or-play offer to Singer if he'd consent to make Superman fly post-haste. Insiders said that Warner deal is not an expensive one, because Singer only develops projects he plans on shooting and is not the sort of producer who develops numerous projects or demands a hefty discretionary fund. Fox ends its deal with Singer. While Singer doesn't believe that Fox studio chairmen Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos had the legal right to terminate his deal, he isn't going to contest the studio's request that he vacate his offices on the Fox lot.
March 21, 2005 - 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment choose British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn ("Layer Cake") to direct "X-Men 3." Alex Young is overseeing "X-Men 3" for Fox, which is aiming for a Memorial Day May 26, 2006, release date.
May 31, 2005 - 20th Century Fox announces Matthew Vaughn departure from X-Men 3.
June 3, 2005 - Variety.com reports on Sun., Jun. 5, 2005 that Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment set Brett Ratner on Friday night, June 3, 2005 to replace Matthew Vaughn as the director of "X3," the third installment of the "X-Men" franchise.
June 6, 2005 - Brett Ratner takes over the directing helm.
Aug 1, 2005 - Production on X-Men 3 begins. www.filmstew.com cites this date.
May 26, 2006 - Release date for X-Men 3: The Last Stand
May 29, 2006 - Opening weekend of X-Men 3: The Last Stand does $122m in the US. Figures are from http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/boxoffice and covers May 26-29.
Sources: www.imdb.com; www.variety.com; www.filmstew.com; www.yahoo.com
The crucial period of interest is the 7 months between Dec 4, 2003 and July 16, 2004. For reasons yet unknown Fox could not get Singer's signature for X3.
Note that in the 3 months between Dec 4, 2003 and Warner's successful poaching of Singer on Mar 4, 2004 Fox did not announce a single project that it would do together with Singer. The subsequent 4+ months from Mar 4, 2004 to Jul 16, 2004 saw Fox failing to announce any Singer project - not even X3.
The timeline seems to suggest that Warner had successfully used "Logan's Run" as the wedge to pry Singer away from Fox. The "Superman" deal was Warner's coup de grace. It also appears to suggest a degree of complacency on Fox's part in managing talent.
Note that Mr. Singer worked in 2004 as executive producer and director on "House MD", a Universal production on the Fox network. According to an AICN interview (published on 2004-10-12), Mr. Singer stated that the film side of Fox is completely separate from the television side of Fox.
Please reference the Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002539112) for X3 producer Lauren Shuler Donner's comments on whom she holds responsible for the production's difficulties.
Please note that credit and thanks goes to Nina Kincaid of www.flixen.com for the link to the Hollywood Reporter article and the accompanying excerpts.
Portions of the article are replicated as follows.
But Singer leaving to do "Superman Returns" -- which he discussed openly with Shuler Donner and her husband Dick Donner, the director of the 1978 "Superman"-- was tough to take. Particularly since he took all his unexpressed ideas for "X-Men 3" with him. "It was a blow," Shuler Donner admits. "He's my friend, I respect him, and saw us doing all the 'X-Men.' "
Donner goes on to talk about Vaughn's departure and the impact that had on the production:
After the production replaced Singer with Vaughn, the new director worked closely with the writers. Even though Shuler Donner is still furious with Vaughn for leaving, she confirms Kinberg's assertion that Vaughn contributed some brainpower to the script. "We cast Kelsey Grammer with Matthew," she admits, "who was fantastic, and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut. We were lucky to have him."
But Vaughn's departure threw a monkey wrench into a huge $150 million production that was already stretching its resources to meet its opening date. "Then suddenly, weeks of prep time were lost," she says. "It killed us. It was an extremely desirable release date. There was no way we were going to miss that date. We had to protect it by any means possible." Go off that date and "X-Men 3" would bump into the likes of such other summer releases as Singer's own "Superman Returns" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
http://www.dvdtown.com/messageboard/topic/1/23285/
