It’s been touch and go for the last week, but Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn has been confirmed to helm X-Men: First Class, 20th Century Fox’s prequel to the lucrative franchise based on the Marvel Comics super-team. Not only have they signed Vaughn, directing his third movie in a row based on comic material, but Fox is confident enough in his abilities to set a release date for June 3, 2011, a little less than 13 months from today.
Basing the movie around a concept by Bryan Singer, director of the first two movies who had already committed to direct Jack the Giant Killer, Fox hired the writing team behind Marvel Studios’ Thor, Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, to do a few rewrites on the script with plans to start making the movie this summer. Singer will co-produce along with Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg. So far, no cast has been announced including whether Patrick Stewart will return as Professor Charles Xavier or whether Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as Wolverine.
The new release date puts the movie in competition against DreamWorks Animation’s sequel Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom and opening two weeks before Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern.
20th Century Fox has provided ComingSoon.net/SuperHeroHype with this description of the movie:
“X-Men: First Class, following the classic Marvel mythology, charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magnetos Brotherhood and Professor Xs X-Men.”
