Halle Barry revealed to
Shadow and Act yesterday that she has signed a contract to return as Storm for Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past. According to the site,
"she did confirm to me that she would be returning in the role. Most likely. Practically 90% sure. And she nodded a lot too. I can't say, and neither could she say that it's definitely a done deal, and that the contracts have all been signed, with all the "i"s dotted and the "t"s crossed. They added that there
"a few details that are still being negotiated which she couldn't get into. But since she did tell me that the film starts shooting in April, it's highly unlikely that talks are going to suddenly and horribly fall apart at this point, and the producers have to scramble to find a replacement at the very last minute." Her return was always likely as long as a fee between herself and 20th Century Fox could be agreed. Let's not forget that one of the reasons Fox went the prequel route with the Matthew Vaughn directed X-Men: First Class in the first place was because of the spiralling contracts of the original cast that meant more and more of the franchise's profits were being handed out to them with each new film. The studio, justifiably by the box office returns, thought Hugh Jackman's Wolverine was strong enough to lead an X-Men movie on his own (and thus only paying one big salary) and then went the refresh route with James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, et all - that resulted in the lowest grossing X-Men movie ($146 million domestic, $11 million lower than 2000's X-Men), but one that would have cost less to make in salaries (though it's production budget of $160 million far out-spent the $75 million of the original). It looks like whatever salary she was asking for to make what will likely be a brief appearance has been accepted. In truth, her career isn't what it was seven or eight years ago, so she likely had less negotiation power and really could do with a boost after a string of flops. One interesting thing to consider... in the 90s X-Men: The Animated Series, of which Bryan Singer was greatly influenced by for his original trilogy, there is a classic alternative universe story titled "One Man's Worth" where Wolverine and Storm are a couple in a devastated, dystopian future and the storyline involves them going back in time to stop an assassination, in this case Charles Xavier in 1959. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjziprxQYmI I just wonder with X-Men: Days of Future Past depicting what will eventually be an alternative future, whether Singer will bring Wolverine and Storm closer together than ever before. It certainly makes sense given that they are the only two sole survivors in their age-group from the original X-Men trilogy (even if Kelsey Grammar's Beast or Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler make a return, they weren't part of the very first X-Men movie) and given how vulnerable they might have become given the events of X-Men 3: The Last Stand and the friends they have lost... it would certainly be an interesting way to go with them. Anyway, expect confirmation on Berry's return soon. Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore and Peter Dinklage are already on board for the July 18, 2014 release.