Seems like somebody over at 20th Century Fox wasn't happy with the quality of
X-Men 3 despite it outgrossing the previous two movies in the franchise.
X-Men 1 and 2 director
Bryan Singer is claiming that he has been offered the chance to return to the franchise to direct the fourth installment of the series, replacing X3 director
Brett Ratner. According to
The Honolulu Advertiser, he has turned the offer down to focus on directing the sequel to this summer's
Superman Returns but he might be interested in helming the
Wolverine spin off, and is wanting to read the script. Wow, this is quite unexpected then. There's no doubt that X-Men 3 is the worst of the X-Men franchise but the movie was WAY better than I was expecting from Brett Ratner and in all honesty, was so much better than Singer's Superman Returns. This just show's though how much faith the studio have in Ratner, to run back to Singer even after he switched alliegences from Fox to Warner Brothers, from Marvel to DC and taking
James Marsden along with him. Singer is a guy under pressure right now, if his next installment of Superman is as lackluster as this summer's outing then there isn't much doubt that the franchise will yet again be dead.....something that would really hamper Singer's career. Also what now for Ratner, does this mean he has been axed for X-Men 4 or is he the first choice now that Singer has turned them down. source -
cinematical,
the honolulu advertiser