By the time Hugh Jackman and James Mangold reunite to roll cameras on their follow-up to The Wolverine, you will have seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We know this because of two things. One: Mangold politely answered a fan's question on Twitter, saying the Wolverine sequel starts filming "early next year." And two: You're going to go see The Force Awakens on the weekend of release, and there's no use pretending you aren't. https://twitter.com/mang0ld/status/573359978406232066 Both Jackman and Patrick Stewart have previously talked about a likelihood of Stewart having a role in the film, so take that for read. I've been trying to dig up information on what the actual storyline will be and the best I can get is "They're starting from a well-liked run of the comics but developing this in new directions." That's pretty much what happened last time around, and for the most part, it worked rather well. Shame about the boring payoff, with the big CG electro-Samurai suit. That was insipid stuff, but enough of the rest of the film was compelling, stylish and sometimes surprising, and so I trust Mangold's sensibilities with the character. Next up for the X-Men is Apocalypse, which is deep into pre-production now. Will Wolverine appear in that one? I wouldn't bet even a penny against it.