Bryan Singer announced at the "Avatar" premiere tonight that he will indeed be directing "X-Men: First Class."
Interviewed by MySpace at the premiere, Singer was asked about his upcoming projects. After mentioning his next film, Jack the Giant Killer, Singer then let loose the big news, saying, "I just yesterday signed a deal to do an X-Men: First Class origins picture, which is kind of cool. I'm very excited."
Singer's statement confirms First Class is an origin film, though it's not clear yet what characters will be included and how closely it will adhere to the continuity of the previous X-Men films, in which Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm and Beast (the latter going by info from The Last Stand) were among Charles Xavier's earliest students – while characters like Iceman and Angel (who were original members in the comics) joined later.
I don't care what you nerds say. "Superman Returns" wasn't bad - yeah it could've used more action, but it certainly doesn't warrant getting ripped to shreds and Singer being discredited every time it's mentioned. I think he's a good director and his first two "X-Men" films are two of the best of the genre.
I just would have rather seen him direct "X4." Yeah, I know "X3" is another one of those hated nerd films, but "Wolverine" was way worse. Granted, "X3" did have flaws - a substantial amount - it felt rushed, and they never should've killed Cyclops. But the characters were changed and the pieces were set up for intriguing storylines down the road. Magneto could take over the school for a while, the mutants have to deal with being leaderless for a while, the mutant cure starts to fade and the prejudice against them comes back, introduce some Sentinels, and you got yourself a decent springboard for a potentially cool "X-Men" flick.
At any rate, I don't think an "origin" film is necessary. I always assumed that the first "X-Men" WAS an origin story, since it talked about how they were formed and showed them going on their first big mission. I would even have preferred seeing Singer tackle the Wolverine Japan sequel storyline over "First Class." Oh well. At least he's making an "X-Men" movie again.
