Will Matthew Vaughn not getting the call from Fox to direct the X-Men: First Class sequel, will the adventures of Fassbender's Magneto and McAvoy's Professor X continue?
With 20th Century Fox not giving Matthew Vaughn the call to direct X-Men: Second Class next summer (or whatever the sequel will be called) and with the helmer likely to be moving on to direct The Secret Service instead, questions are starting to raise over the future of the X-Men franchise. What we do know for sure is that definitely next for the series is The Wolverine that will see Hugh Jackman (unless he gets distracted by another project as he did with Les Miserables) reprise the title character for director James Mangold. That film is based on Chris McQuarrie's all-Asian set script influenced by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont's run in the 80s. Beyond that, we can't be sure. Originally an X-Men: First Class sequel was to be filming next summer with Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy etc. We have to remember that the whole idea with X-Men: First Class was to make a film on a smaller budget so they wouldn't have to pay the inflated wages of Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, etc... and the film did cost $50 million less to make because of this and in doing so the theory was to kick-off a new trilogy,the thinking being they wouldn't lose any of their audience because fans are turning up for the characters they love and not the actors who they are portraying. That thinking didn't prove to be true. In the end X-Men: First Class opened to $55 million domestically, that's half of the $102 million X-Men 3: The Last Stand had opened to five years earlier. The $352 million worldwide gross for the prequel was also $100 million down from the $459 million worldwide gross of X-Men 3. So now Fox basically ended up being no better off by reducing the wage budget because X-Men: First Class didn't make X-Men 3 numbers. I imagine Fox have been doing calculations and getting the abacus out to try and work out just which film to greenlight next, an X-Men 4 with the original cast and hopefully attracting the audience they had in 2006 or an X-Men: Second Class movie that would hopefully build off strong DVD sales and as sequels usually gross more money than originals (because they have something to build on from those who waited for home video and saw it on TV), can take another shot at this universe. The answer is obviously that Fox should make an X-Men 4 with Hugh Jackman and the original cast once he is done with The Wolverine (which should be the last spin-off for him) AND they should also continue to make X-Men: First Class sequels, therefore having two different time periods in the same continuity evolving and ever growing. Over the last few months they are probably just starting to realise that they had a good thing going with X-Men 3 series and they shouldn't have given up on it so quickly but of course the same can be said of X-Men: First Class and killing that narrative line prematurely would also be a mistake. X-Men: First Class made just a little short of the first X-Men movie in 1999 that introduced the characters before then storming the box office with the sequel. Sometimes these franchises take a little while to get going and Fox should be aware of that. In the mean time there is something you can do to help X-Men: Second Class become a reality and that is buy the Blu-ray and DVD and make those sales strong. That is still the most effective way of making sure franchises continue because Fox needs to know they have an audience who would turn up next time but were just unsure this summer. Previously; Matthew Vaughn Sets Up Mark Millars THE SECRET SERVICE9 Storylines That Could Be Used For X-Men SECOND CLASSBryan Singer Says X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Sequel Could Involve Civil Rights MovementWho Should Be Next For The X-Men Movies?X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Feedback: What Did You Think?Review: X-MEN FIRST CLASS 60s Bond Inspired Triumph, Fantastic Entertainment40 Minute Interview: Matthew Vaughn on X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Part 340 Minute Interview: Matthew Vaughn on X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Part 240 Minute Interview: Matthew Vaughn on X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Part 1