Bryan Singer Returns To "X-Men" Franchise

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

On the "blue carpet" at last night's Los Angeles premiere of James Cameron's "Avatar," MySpace spoke with director Bryan Singer, who let it slip that he's returning to the franchise that made him a household name--"X-Men."

According to the video on the site, Singer said: "I'm ramping up to do a movie called 'Jack the Giant Killer' at Warner Bros., and I just yesterday signed a deal to do an 'X-Men: First Class Origins' picture, which is kind of cool. I'm very excited.”

"First Class" looks at the early days of Cyclops, Jean Grey and others at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Josh Schwartz (“The O.C.”) also is involved in the project; Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg will produce.

Singer was the director on “X-Men” and “X-2,” both of which scored positive reviews with critics and were box office giants. After “X-2” Singer split with the franchise, and both sides seemed to suffer from it.

Although Brett Ratner's third "X-Men" film was a financial success, it was not favorable with fans or with critics. At the time, Singer’s career also seemed to have hit a low spot--his two films following “X-2,”--"Superman Returns" and "Valkyrie"--received mixed reviews and disappointing box-office returns.

By reuniting Singer with the franchise, the hope is that he can help right the ship after the negative reviews of Ratner’s film, and the mixed acclaim for Gavin Hood’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

I think the move is a fantastic idea. With Singer behind the camera, the first two “X-Men” films were some of the earliest and best big-budget comic films. Also, it seemed like Singer cared a lot about the franchise and the characters, so it will be interesting to see what he does with this type of “origin” story.

Look out for “X-Men: First Class” sometime in 2011.