10 Movies That Literally Had To Reinvent Filmmaking

Despite the criticism the X-Men saga has received in recent years, the movie franchise has played an important role in reinventing filmmaking. X-Men: The Last Stand included flashback scenes, involving much younger versions of Charles Xavier and Magneto. This meant there was a need to de-age the appearance of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

Previously, studios would hire younger impersonators of the characters. However, when Fox had these two A-list actors, there would have been a demand to use them whenever possible, due to their on-screen presence.

This led to the studio taking a technological gamble with digital skin-grafting (de-aging) technology. This meant the actors would still be present but during production, yet the CGI technology of de-aging would present these film stars with a younger appearance. This helped audiences connect with the younger characters because of familiarity.

Since the inclusion of de-aging technology in the X-Men saga, there has been a desire to use the technology from other studios, in order to include their A-list movie stars in more scenes. This led to the effect being heavily used in Captain Marvel, as Samuel L Jackson's character Nick Fury received the de-age treatment throughout the whole film.