We all know that Deadpool 2 is going through some well-publicised issues at the moment, with director Tim Miller departing over those “creative differences” and taking composer Junkie XL with him. Well, the whole X-Men franchise has reached something of a “crossroads.”
THR reports that Fox is eyeing a reboot for Professor Xavier and his gifted youngsters in the face of X-Men: Apocalypse‘s disappointing box office performance and critical reception, the end of the contracts for stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult, and the upcoming Logan being the (apparently) last outing for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.
Meanwhile, there’s still the question of Gambit, which has struggled to get off the ground pretty much ever since its announcement. Honestly, how does a Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum struggle this much? It’s lost Rupert Wyatt and Doug Liman, and we’ve got no idea if Lea Seydoux is still playing Belladonna Bouxdreaux.
However, the THR report says that it will go back into active development once Tatum has wrapped Steven Soderbergh’s new film Logan Lucky. They’re not giving up on that one.
So what’s going on with X-Men? Well, according to this report, Bryan Singer will be stepping aside, having returned for Days Of Future Past and Apocalypse, while regular writer Simon Kinberg is working on a new script that “optimistically” includes the stars who may or may not return, but that “the flagship series will be reconfigured.” Who knows that means for the new crop of X-Men that starred in Apocalypse, including Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Meanwhile, the studio is absolutely pressing ahead with the hot property that is Deadpool. Word is that John Wick co-director David Leitch is currently in negotiations to direct Deadpool 2, which will almost definitely feature Cable (who may or may not be played by Kyle Chandler) and Domino (who may be played by (deep breath) Lizzy Caplan, Sienna Miller, Ruby Rose, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Mackenzie Davis, Sofia Boutella, Kelly Rohrbach, Stephanie Sigman or Sylvia Hoeks. Maybe.) The change-up at the helm is concerning, but we do love John Wick. A lot.
They’re so confident in Deadpool that they’re already pressing ahead with Deadpool 3, and are actively looking for filmmakers for it. THR suggests that the third movie will introduce X-Force, which has been teetering on the brink of a solo movie for a while now, and was in development with Kick-Ass 2′s Jeff Wadlow.
One spin-off that is in active development is The New Mutants, which is in the hands of The Fault In Our Stars‘ Josh Boone, the man who is also working on The Stand, Revival and The Vampire Chronicles. Busy fella, but they say that it could start shooting early next year. Boone’s slate is so full that we’re actually really interested to see what he’ll make first.
Given that Jackman is (again, apparently) heading off into the Wolverine sunset with Logan, a reset for the X-Men franchise makes sense. But we’d be sad to see the new crop of mutants disappear, as the performances from the young cast were basically the best parts of the bloated Apocalypse. Fingers crossed they find a way to keep them around. And yeah, careful with Deadpool, now. We definitely want more, but we also want it good.
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