These days Marvel Comics is keeping tight control of the film adaptations of their superheroes. However there are a number of major characters that are under control of other studios, due to deals struck before Marvel began to make their own movies. The most expansive stable of characters that Marvel isn’t controlling is the entire X-Men universe, which is still under the control of 20th Century Fox. Despite the size of this property it isn’t entirely clear where the franchise will go next, as revealed in an interview that producer Lauren Shuler Donner gave to Hit Fix.
Shuler Donner has been a producer on every X-Men film, going back to the original “X-Men” in 2000. Since the series has changed directors several times and other producers have moved off the franchise many see her as the guiding force of X-Men films. That naturally makes her the go to person when it comes to questions about the franchise. But even she seemed somewhat non-committal about the future of this series, since the ultimate decision of which projects will receive funding is made at the executive level.
The first topic brought up was a possible follow up to this year’s “X-Men: First Class” The prequel to the original film did not quite perform to Fox’s expectations. However the film did bring in over $350 million in worldwide box office, which is nothing to scoff at. Shuler Donner said that she hopes they will be able to do a sequel and to do it once again with director Matthew Vaughn. The status however is in flux, as Donner said that at this point they were “talking about it.”
Another project that has been in flux for a little while is the sequel to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” currently titled simply “The Wolverine.” That film made a decent amount of money but was eviscerated by critics and fans alike. Shuler Donner continues to stress that this new film is “taking a completely different approach.” “The Wolverine” has gotten the go ahead from Fox but there have been a number of delays. First director Darren Aranofsky dropped out of the project; he would be replaced by James Mangold. The tsunami in Japan made it too difficult to shoot there as had been originally planned. Now star Hugh Jackman is working on “Les Miserables” which means that shooting will be pushed back until summer of 2012 if not later.
That leaves the planned spin-off for Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. The character appeared in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and the spin-off has been in the works ever since but yet to be officially green lit. Shuler Donner says that she was “presenting some things to the studio” which is a diplomatic way of saying that the studio hasn’t agreed on an approach yet. With Reynolds recently starring in the expensive underperformer “Green Lantern” one has to wonder if Fox is still on board with this idea at all.
There are still so many directions to take the X-Men franchise. In addition to the films mentioned there’s always the possibility of continuing the main series. There was in fact a bonus scene after the credits of “X-Men: The Last Stand” which hinted at the return of at least one supposedly deceased character. Should the franchise become too bogged down in its own continuity there is also the possibility of a reboot, like what Sony has opted to do with Spider-Man. While the direction of the series seems unclear right now there’s little doubt that Fox will keep making X-Men movies for as long as they can.
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