10 Directors Who Should Helm The X-Men Reboot
The gifted individuals who could rescue the fading franchise...
Reboot.
It's a word that conjure mix feelings amongst film fans. Sometimes it means a tired series could be revitalised, working for the series like Bond, The Planet of the Apes and Batman. But it could also be seen as a cynical attempt by a studio desperate to keep the rights to property, i.e. Sony and FOX's approach to the Spider-Man and Fantastic Four franchises.
There are now rumours that FOX are considering rebooting the X-Men series after X-Men: Apocalypse underperformed at the box office and with critics. Plus a straight continuation looks unlikely because Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy's contracts have come to end and they have stated that either all three return to the series or none of them do. And then of course there's the small matter of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart are also set to call it a day with their X-Men roles with 2017's Logan being their last appearance as Wolverine and Charles Xavier respectively.
Seeing that the X-Men series will be heading towards a new direction lets look at 10 filmmakers who would this popular property and take on their society. It could be soft reboot within the same continuity featuring a younger cast, a dark interpretation looking at social themes of the X-Men or be more like its contemporaries such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
10. Duncan Jones
Since the release of Moon back in 2009 Duncan Jones has become an in-demand director, making Source Code and was linked to Man of Steel before making Warcraft. Moon was a terrific debut, a deliberate throwback to sci-fi films from the '70s that aimed to thoughtful rather than just be about grand spectacle - not that it was without big special effects moments, using traditional model work over CGI.
Both his sci-fi films were character driven and ambitious, characteristics that any potential X-Men reboot. The best X-Men movies are focused on the character relationships and some of the most intense moments are not necessarily the action ones. Jones could match the best emotional moments that Bryan Singer, Matthew Vaughn and James Mangold were able to provide.
Jones' films have been on the serious and Warcraft was his first skirmish into a more a light-hearted storytelling, an approach that some X-Men fans have been calling. Even though Warcraft was a hot mess of a film, requiring the Chinese market to make it profitable there were virtues to the film, namely showing the Orcs in a complicated light and the motion capture. That was at least a useful experience to show the different ideologies within the X-Men universe and mutant super powers.
Jones' next film is a sci-fi thriller for Netflix but film fans would be want to see him direct another major franchise.