Bryan Singer Confirms X-Men: First Class Sequel Will Be Called Days of Future Past; Says Goal is to "Broaden" the Franchise
Posted 08.02.12 by BrentJS
With X-Men: First Class, 20th Century Fox took its X-Men franchise back in time, to the early '60s, to show how and why Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) became Prof. X and Magneto, respectively, and went from being close friends to having diametrically opposed viewpoints on the role of mutants vis-à-vis the human population. With the sequel, Fox is looking to not only the future of the franchise, but to a possible future in which mutants are hunted like animals and incarcerated in internment camps.
When Fox registered the title Days of Future Past back in June, comic book fans immediately recognized it as the title of the classic story that ran in the pages of Marvel's The Uncanny X-Men #141-142 and assumed that the sequel to First Class would be adapted from this story. Well, those fans were right. Producer Bryan Singer recently confirmed the title in an interview with IGN (presumably, Fox will want "X-Men" on the marquee, making it X-Men: Days of Future Past) and spoke a bit about the future of the franchise, including the fact that he "might" one day direct another X-Men movie.
I can say it's being written right now and it will start shooting in a few months. I don't know the start date... It's, yeah, it's going to be very ambitious; it's called Days of Future Past and it deals with aspects of that comic, but also some very new things. I just don't want to give any of it away. [First Class director] Matthew Vaughn will be directing and I'm totally excited about it.
Singer goes on to say that the the goal of the movie is to "broaden out" the X-universe and "perhaps even bring some connectivity between the films," which sounds an awful lot like characters and/or actors from previous movies might make it into Days of Future Past.
I think there's a strong desire to broaden out the universe. I mean, the X-Men universe is every bit on its own as big as the Marvel universe. And I think it's time to reach out and explore it and perhaps even bring some connectivity between the films as Marvel has done so well. So, you may seem some of that. I don't know.
Since Logan (Hugh Jackman) appeared, however briefly, in First Class, he's almost a shoe-in to appear in Days of Future Past, but it would be pretty cool to see some of the other original X-actors pop up in the future sequences, as well. Singer, who launched the X-Men franchise for Fox as the director of the first two movies, also said that he "might" be enticed to direct a future X-Men movie "if the right version came along."
I might. ... I love those actors — they're all awesome — and I love the universe.
Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes) is writing the script for Days of Future Past. Returning cast members include McAvoy, Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Zoe Kravitz, Rose Byrne, and Nicholas Hoult.
Next Showing: X-Men: Days of Future Past is slated to open July 18, 2014