An interesting development occurred on the Los Angeles “blue carpet” premiere of Avatar tonight as Bryan Singer reveals he has just signed on to direct X-Men: First Class for 20th Century Fox.
Singer was asked about his future projects by MySpace hosts and replied, “I’m prepping a movie called Jack the Giant Killer [with] Warner Bros, and I just yesterday signed a deal to do an X-Men: First Class — Origins — picture, which is kind of cool.” The video to the right features the words coming out of his mouth if you need further confirmation.
Of course, this news is likely to be received with open arms by the X-Men faithful that enjoyed Singer’s original X-Men and then like most movie fans fell in love with X2: X-Men United. The rails sort of fell off with X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 directed by Brett Ratner. While Ratner’s film was a s financial success, just like this year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it wasn’t exactly embraced by the fanbase.
The film Singer has signed on to direct was scripted by “The O.C.” creator Josh Schwartz and is expected to inject a next-gen sensibility into the superhero series. The studio has been leaning toward using the younger characters introduced in the previous films in future installments –teenagers with powers taught at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.
The resulting film would likely draw from elements of the Marvel Comic of the same name, launched in 2006, and enlist such characters as Iceman, Rogue, Angel, Colossus, Jubilee and Shadowcat, who have appeared prominently or made cameos in prior pics.
The likelihood of Singer returning to the franchise became real back in August when an article at Variety said Singer had been flirting with directing X-Men: First Class, and so it seems that’s exactly the case.
As for Jack the Giant Killer, that’s a riff on the Jack and the Beanstalk legend scripted by Darren Lemke and Mark Bomback, which tells a story set in motion when a princess is kidnapped, threatening a long-standing peace between men and giants. A young farmer is given an opportunity to lead a dangerous expedition to the giants’ kingdom in hopes of rescuing her. The film takes a more adult angle at the popular Jack and the Beanstalk tale.
What are your thoughts? Excited to see Singer return to the X-verse? Wish they had gone with yet another new director? What are your thoughts on the first two X-Men films compared to the two most recent installments? Weigh in below.
Thanks to Slash Film with helping provide information for this report.
