Rejoice: Singer Wants Back Into Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters

Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 12, 2009

x-men-bryan-singer

Oh, just like the Prodigal Son who had to abandon his family in search of Superman Returns in far off fields only to come back when he came to his senses, director extraordinaire Bryan Singer has begun talk that might get more than a few fanboy seats wet. Having tasted the spoils of his riches, he’s talked to Fox (who will be playing the Prodigal Son’s father in this extended metaphor) about possibly sitting back in the director’s chair for another entry into the X-Men franchise.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, while talking at South Korea’s Pusan International Film Festival, Singer claimed that he really loved working with the actors, and enjoyed working in science fiction because it gave him a means to thread social commentary into an interesting story, saying specifically that he likes to “trick audiences into thinking they’re seeing fireworks, but they’re learning about themselves and listening to what I have to say.”

The money quote here:

“I’m still looking to possibly returning to the ‘X-Men’ franchise. I’ve been talking to Fox about it.”

Simple. Direct. Still not a done deal, but I love to see the director actively pursuing a seat at the table for the future of the franchise, especially after seeing what Gavin Hood and Brett Ratner have produced with the classic comic book team.

I, for one, am looking forward to having Singer trick me into thinking about myself and listening to what he has to say while Wolverine cuts a guy’s goddamned head off. It might be especially good timing if Singer is paired with the X-Men: First Class project. Return to the roots, my friends.

Your thoughts? What say you?


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  • hempknight757
    How are they going to do it when they killed off everyone at the end, by just saying no they were still alive? Gotta bring back Beast & Nightcrawler & how about bring a good Gambit rather than that clown in Wolverine. Kelsey Grammer is a most to come back for me.
  • Singer should parp out a Supes sequel and a Wolverine sequel and an X Men fourquel. But only after The Usual Suspects 2: 2 Usual 2 Suspect.
  • E
    Screw you, Singer. You abandon us and leave us with Ratner and then think we'll welcome you back with open arms?

    Did you SEE X3? Thanks a lot, d*ck!
  • dismissive wanking motion
  • Wow I didn't think I could hate you more. Bryan fucking Singer? Since when the hell is he "director extraordinaire?" I mean... I thought you were being sarcastic but you seem like you actually want him to direct another X-Men movie. Wow. What is this I don't even.

    I didn't really like X-Men that much and thought X2 was only a bit better. Singer laid the ground work for X3 and Wolverine to suck. The costumes in the X films were blaah. The X-team was blaah. I mean, really, they're not that good. Neither is Singer.

    I'd be more excited by a reboot than Singer.
  • Cole_Abaius
    Since he directed The Usual Suspects and helped birth the new Superhero/Comic Book franchise boon that's existed since he and Sam Raimi built it back up.

    Of course I'm not being sarcastic, I loved X-Men, and I loved X-Men 2 even more. I'm sorry that the costume design threw you way off course, Fure, but they are great movies that helped introduce comic book characters to a modern film audience. No small task.

    But you should let Singer know that yellow and blue spandex will help the character development and ethical dilemmas in the next film for you.
  • So many points to make here. First - if we ignore X-Men (because they're not that great), directing one movie makes you extraordinaire? Even if you count X-Men as +2, Superman Returns is at least a -1, if not a -2, because boy howdy that was terrible.

    Second (we should transcribe this into a shouting match) Spider-Man was a much bigger boon than X-Men, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Plus, the comic book movie never left. There was a Batman movie in 1997. We'll call that the end of the era that lasted from the 80s and died in 1997. If it was reborn, it was reborn with 1998's Blade (the genre had been dead a year!) which was an R-Rated comic movie on a somewhat obscure character, yet it made $70mil domestic and another $60mil foreign. Two years later, X-Men. The next year (2001) is quiet for comic movies, but more obscure titles like Ghost World and In Hell come out. Then Spider-Man blows the lid off the entire planet.

    Third - a modern film audience was introduced to the X-Men via the X-Men movie? Sorry, I forgot that the X-Men have been one of the top selling comic franchises for the past 50 years. The movies did well because of the comics, not the other way around. The X-Men comics are easily ranked in the top lexicon of comic franchises, up there with Superman, Batman, Spider-Man. They'd probably fall right there at number 4, if not there, definitely top 8.

    As for the costumes, there are plenty of other variants than yellow & blue spandex. Throwing that in there would have been fun and could have been a good joke. But the costumes could have been better, period. The look of a comic movie is very important.

    After all that, we can address things that you didn't bring up, like the make-up of the X-team. Angsty teen Rogue? Bah. Teenage Iceman? The team could have been better from day one. Gambit, Beast, Jubilee, any number of cool characters with easy powers (for low cost). We can also talk about casting, more specifically, Taylor Mane (merely ok) or Halle Berry (terrible, terrible, terrible) and dialog - most of the terrible stuff being delivered by Berry.

    I remember being underwhelmed by the first film. I don't even own it on DVD and I'll buy almost anything.

    Bryan Singer hasn't won my loyalty. He may have done an alright job with X-Men, but he didn't blow me away. I think there are a dozen directors who could have done better or who can do better with a fourth movie. And why should we go back to First Class? Or even worse, that idea about some young X-Children. Gaaaaah. And let's forget Magneto. He's been in 3 movies. Great. He's the X-arch nemesis. Awesome. But do we want Spidey fighting Green Goblin 3 times? No. Move on. Omega Red. Apocalypse. Mr. Sinister. Hell Fire club.

    I'm just saying there are more options to be explored. He had two chances and gave up on the third. Let's get some new blood in there.
  • Aleric
    I have to agree with Robert here, Singer did not save the franchise, he took it in another direction and created a lack luster subculture of the original. All his points are valid. Basically they took a title that was written for adults and dumbed it down and made three dimensional characters into 2-D.
  • JMoney
    hard for him to return to Xavier's house with Xavier being dead. I could forgive a crappy love stroyline and all the other crap in X3, but killing off main characters? unforgivable, and since Singer leaving resulted in Ratner on X3, ill hold Singer responsible. I still love The Usual Suspects, but he better come with something just as great pretty soon to make up for his involvement in the disaster that wass X3.
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