Confirmed: Singer's GIANT X-Cuse to skip FIRST CLASS

by Matt Holmes

Last week's report that Bryan Singer was too busy to direct "X-Men: First Class" has turned out to be 100% true. Mike Fleming at Deadline says Singer won't direct but will stay on board as producer. 20th Century Fox are so hot on Jamie Moss' ("Street Kings") script and Singer's original treatment that they want to film this summer for a potential release next year and unlike Chris Nolan's relationship at Warner Bros; they won't wait for him. It's actually a similar situation as to what happened with "Superman Returns" when Fox wouldn't delay production on "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" until he was free. However, the split was more amicable this time and as we say, he is keeping his creative vision as producer (which may rule out bigger names who may not want to work under such strict parameters). The word "trilogy" has also been branded about. As we've said before, Singer will direct the 3-D fantasy horror "Jack and the Giant Killer" at Warner Bros. this summer which rules him out of directing the "X-Men" in diapers movie (Magneto/Xavier & his institute origin), and also Chris McQuarrie's ("Usual Suspects", "Valkyrie") Japanese set "Wolverine" sequel which he is expected to shoot with Hugh Jackman in January. Fox are likely to have promised Singer first-dibs on "X-Men 4" sometime in the future. Though if you are like me and skeptical Fox will ever go back to the original cast with all the complications that come with it (large contracts, schedules, continuity problems), then maybe it'll be a sequel to "First Class" or a further spin-off Singer eventually makes with Fox. Hitfix reported last week that meetings have already taken place with several directors for "X-Men: First Class", and we expect an offer soon to be made. Matthew Vaughn, can we hope? Deadline also mentions that "deals are percolating" for "Fantastic Four"and "Daredevil" reboots, which we've heard before and goes without saying as they a contractual agreement to move the franchises forward cinematically or see the rights revert back to Marvel.

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Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.