The good news is that Fox is apparently intent on moving forward with a sequel to X-Men: First Class, which came in a respectable third place in last year's battle of Marvel superhero films. It may have been a better film than either Thor or Captain America, but Marvel's marketing might managed to lift those films above it in terms of total dollars. Still, Fox was apparently pleased with the result, as they've recently announced that both director Matthew Vaughn and producer Bryan Singer will return for a sequel, which one would assume would be arriving sometime in 2014 or so if they're just getting the band back together now.
THR said yesterday that the cast has likewise been locked into deals for the sequel, but that shouldn't be big news; I would assume that everyone signed a standard three-movie deal before they did First Class. That'll save them some money on the likes of Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence, both of whom are likely to start earning a lot more money over the next year or two.
The mildly bad news is that none of the scriptwriters from the first film are lined up to return. Despite some rough spots (the interactions between the teenagers really should've been better), the Magneto plotline was one of the more assured subplots that I've seen in any recent comic-book film, and it'd be a shame to see it lose momentum. Unfortunately, Fox says that Simon Kinberg, writer of X-Men: The Last Stand, undoubtedly the worst of the X-Men films, will be taking on the writing duties for the First Class sequel.
Now, to be fair, a lot of hands were involved in making The Last Stand a not-so-great movie, and Kinberg has done decent work before with his scripts for movies like Mr & Mrs. Smith. First Class also had a somewhat troubled conception when it came to the screenplay (with the Magneto storyline evolving out of a previous screenplay for X-Men Origins: Magneto), which eventually saw the studio heading to arbitration to decide who would be credited with what contributions. With the characters established, it's possible they just want an old hand around for the sequel, but still; the same could've been said about The Last Stand.
Still, more First Class is a good idea. Where do they go from here, though? Keep things in the 60's, or maybe jump forward a few years and have some crazy psychedelic 70's action? Try to get Hugh Jackman to play a larger role as Wolverine? What do you want to see?
I still haven't seen First Class but the the fact that Simon Kinberg is writing really has me worried. But at least it's going to have the same cast and the same director. Keeping it in the 60's doesn't sound like a bad idea but I also would love to see them do the 70's. Also more Hugh Jackman would be great.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I believe that was a calm, reasonable and appropriate reaction.
I want each one of these films to be a different decade and a different cast of mutants.
Basically, I want an 80's movie with Dazzler, Jubilee, and a whole cast of ridiculous 80's X-Men.
(Also, this guy did write the first Sherlock Holmes, which I was a big fan of. So there's hope?)
Not worried. Matthew Vaughn always brings in his stable of writers, like Jane Goldman, to projects he works on (she worked on First Class, Kick Ass, Stardust, etc). He re-worked First Class to his liking and I imagine he will re-work the script for the next one similarly. He just wasn't officially involved until now whereas Kinberg has been working on a draft since last year.
Also, Kinberg has written other projects that are good and was involved with First Class as a producer. He's not all bad and is simply one of several people who will ultimately craft this film. Plus, X3 was not as bad as X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Sadly, that was the worst X-Men film.
Oh, and Kinberg was not the only guy who wrote X3 either. Zak Penn (who wrote X2, the best of the original trilogy, and wrote the first draft of the upcomg Avengers) also wrote X3. So let's not pile on the hate for this one guy. x]
It can't be any worse than First Class was. One of my least favorite films of that year. The first two X Men movies by Singer are still the best that series has been and nothing else has even come close.
I honestly think a lot of X3's problems were due to Ratner and due to the studio. A lot of the problems really seem studio forced and due to really horrible direction. It's really hard to judge a writer based on one movie and when they're coupled with a shit director it doesn't help. With all the stuff they wanted to cram into the movie there was zero chance of X3 being good.
This isn't THAT terrible. X-Men: The Last Stand, while terrible, had a very rushed production. Basically, Tom Rothman, the head of Fox, decided the summer before that they were going to have an X-Men movie in theaters. This gave them only 1 year to go from no script to completed film, which is why we got the rushed, mishmash of different story threads we ended up getting.
You know I just wish they'd just come out and say its a reboot not a prequel to X1, X2, or X3. I just want to sit back and watch a movie without thinking "What the hell...Prof X and Wolverine said they never met in the X1". I know the majority of the audience will not notice inconsistencies with their timeline but its just something that really bothers me.
its not like the scripts for any X-Men so far have been great...I like David Hayter but I didn't care for his treatment of the X-Men and the same goes for the following movies. Also, X-Men 3 had more wrong with it then the script treatment.
Also, I thought First Class was just OK and got a little too much praise for everyone. I thought it was on par with 1 and 2, which I'm not a huge fan of 1. All of FOX's MARVEL movies kind of suck to me.
Somebody said Disco Wolverine? Because somebody should have!
damn but first class was able to get by some of its writing faults (my power is adapting) so hopefully the sequel can to
@jackanderson said:
Actually it isn't. Writers are treated poorly on set and are pushed around a lot. A number of reasons could have made the script bad. Don't blame one writer.
I will never understand how the mind of the studio executives work.
Fuck this noise...
@Sam_Peckinpaws:
First Class got basically the same treatment as well.
@Jazzycola said:
This, exactly. It's such a funny thing too, because that one word 'reboot' would make it so much less annoying. I really liked First Class, but the most jarring moments were bits where I went, "hang on now...that's not how it went down according to the first three movies."
Singer and Vaughn being on board as well as the cast means I'm gonna remain optimistic about this. There's more going in this movies favor then against it. If it sucks though....ohhh man. Ima make somebody pay.
So long as Kinberg doesn't try to rewrite The Last Stand movie back into existence, I'll give this the benefit of the doubt. In fact, if he further retcons that movie and the Origins: Wolverine movie too, he'll have my seal of approval!