XxSlayerxX
The News Reporter
X-Men 3 Has A Writer!
When Bryan Singer decided to throw his chips in with Superman, and leave the X-Men franchise recently, there were those who were worried about the state of X-Men 3.
After all, Singer took his writers, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, with him, while Fox had not closed any deals for any of the principal actors – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen et al – to return. The future looked about as bleak as Days of Future Past (Geek alert!)
But, given that the the X-movies have grossed almost a billion dollars worldwide, theatrically, Fox and Marvel were never going to let the series die. And so it was announced today that the merry mutants have a new writer – Simon Kinberg.
Simon Who? Well, it’s certainly not the Joss Whedon appointment that many fanboys had been trumpeting – hardly surprising, though, as the Buffymeister is busy on his pet project, Serenity (and, given that, according to a very good source, he wrote that Godawful ‘Do you know what happens to a Toad when it’s hit by lightning?’ line in the original, it might be a blessing in disguise). But nor is it a big-name writer.
Yet Kinberg is quietly making a name for himself in Hollywood – and with Fox and Marvel especially. He’s already carried out rewrites on both Elektra and Fantastic Four, has written xXx: State of the Union for Sony, and is a huge comic book fan.
"I'm a religious reader of the comics, and I loved the first two movies," he said. "I had a great experience with Fox and Marvel on the other projects, and when they came to me and asked me if I had any interest in 'X3,' I was ecstatic. I grew up on them, and I love these comics, and it's exciting to take a whack at making the third the biggest and best in the trilogy; it's our 'Return of the King."'
Whether that means it’s an hour too long with fourteen different endings, we’ll have to wait and see. Spider-Man aside, X-Men is Marvel’s biggest franchise and there are no end of areas where the third in the series could go. The obvious route is the reintroduction of the late Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) as the omnipotent Dark Phoenix, and the development of Pyro within Magneto’s clutches. But there are also rumours of perennial X-baddies The Sentinels, or The Hellfire Club (a team of suave, sophisticated evil mutants), with Sigourney Weaver in the running at one point to play their leader, Emma Frost.
Factor in the inevitable focus on Wolverine’s past, building up to a spin-off for Jackman, and you’ve got a movie that could have more story threads than Love Actually, and at least 23.8% more mutant powers. Singer said recently that the only superhero he was going to add to the mix was the card-throwing Cajun, Gambit. That may all change with Kinberg’s contribution.
Fox has yet to appoint a director, but they’ve announced a Summer start date, in order to make a May 2006 release date. As ever, keep coming back to Empire for more X-updates.
Source: http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/news/newsstory.asp?news_id=16227
When Bryan Singer decided to throw his chips in with Superman, and leave the X-Men franchise recently, there were those who were worried about the state of X-Men 3.
After all, Singer took his writers, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, with him, while Fox had not closed any deals for any of the principal actors – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen et al – to return. The future looked about as bleak as Days of Future Past (Geek alert!)
But, given that the the X-movies have grossed almost a billion dollars worldwide, theatrically, Fox and Marvel were never going to let the series die. And so it was announced today that the merry mutants have a new writer – Simon Kinberg.
Simon Who? Well, it’s certainly not the Joss Whedon appointment that many fanboys had been trumpeting – hardly surprising, though, as the Buffymeister is busy on his pet project, Serenity (and, given that, according to a very good source, he wrote that Godawful ‘Do you know what happens to a Toad when it’s hit by lightning?’ line in the original, it might be a blessing in disguise). But nor is it a big-name writer.
Yet Kinberg is quietly making a name for himself in Hollywood – and with Fox and Marvel especially. He’s already carried out rewrites on both Elektra and Fantastic Four, has written xXx: State of the Union for Sony, and is a huge comic book fan.
"I'm a religious reader of the comics, and I loved the first two movies," he said. "I had a great experience with Fox and Marvel on the other projects, and when they came to me and asked me if I had any interest in 'X3,' I was ecstatic. I grew up on them, and I love these comics, and it's exciting to take a whack at making the third the biggest and best in the trilogy; it's our 'Return of the King."'
Whether that means it’s an hour too long with fourteen different endings, we’ll have to wait and see. Spider-Man aside, X-Men is Marvel’s biggest franchise and there are no end of areas where the third in the series could go. The obvious route is the reintroduction of the late Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) as the omnipotent Dark Phoenix, and the development of Pyro within Magneto’s clutches. But there are also rumours of perennial X-baddies The Sentinels, or The Hellfire Club (a team of suave, sophisticated evil mutants), with Sigourney Weaver in the running at one point to play their leader, Emma Frost.
Factor in the inevitable focus on Wolverine’s past, building up to a spin-off for Jackman, and you’ve got a movie that could have more story threads than Love Actually, and at least 23.8% more mutant powers. Singer said recently that the only superhero he was going to add to the mix was the card-throwing Cajun, Gambit. That may all change with Kinberg’s contribution.
Fox has yet to appoint a director, but they’ve announced a Summer start date, in order to make a May 2006 release date. As ever, keep coming back to Empire for more X-updates.
Source: http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/news/newsstory.asp?news_id=16227