Could There Still Be An X-MEN 4? (UPDATE: This Is Really Old News)

I’ve been duped! The article I link to below is old - about a year old. For some reason that no one seems to understand, The Hero Complex Twitter account tweeted it again today. That certainly explains all the Wolverine confusion. I bet I wrote about this at my old gig! This aging brain…

I’m keeping the article here anyway.

Geoff Boucher of the LA Times sat down with Bryan Singer and Lauren Shuler Donner - two of the architects of the X-Men franchise at Fox - and came away with the headline ‘Bryan Singer on ‘X-Men: First Class’: It’s got to be about Magneto and Professor X.’ Jesus. Boucher had hyped the interview on Twitter as having a scoop about the film, but you have to really dig very deep into the piece to find anything of interest besides the 6000th retelling of how Bryan Singer didn’t like comic books before he directed X-Men:

X-Men 4 could still happen.

That’s interesting because I had assumed that the reason X-Men: First Class was a prequel was so that nobody would have to be brought back (and thus paid) for a fourth film. Actors get more expensive with every entry in a series, and some of the actors, like Halle Berry, are probably way too expensive at this point. A reboot or prequel or whatever this is allows you to just start over with cheaper actors.

Here’s the slightly confusing text:

Shuler Donner also has pitched Singer on doing a fourth installment of the previously established “X-Men” franchise and Jackman had that lunch with Singer to coax him into a project as well, which may or may not be a “Wolverine” film, which Jackman has said will be set in Japan and released in 2011. “I wish I could be four people,” the director said with a moan. “I could make everybody happy.”

Singer turned to Shuler Donner and said of “X-Men 4″: “Hold that one off for just a little, I’m fixated on the other one right now.” She nodded and answered, “I will, I will … I’m holding it open with high hopes. It’s totally different [from ‘First Class’] and it will be so interesting for you.”

I don’t know what Jackman would want Singer to do on The Wolverine - produce? Darren Aronofsky is, as of now, directing that film (although God knows that could change). Is the other thing actually not The Wolverine? Is it something else that Donner and Jackman have? And does this exchange mean that there is a script or at least a pitch for X-Men 4? Where would it go and who would it include?

I’ve always thought it was weird that between Wolverine and X-Men: First Class Fox was creating an entire period superhero franchise. Maybe there’s hope for X-Men cinematic adventures in the modern day as well.