by Matt McDaniel, November 20, 2008
Professor X and Magneto. Wolverine and Sabretooh. Serena and Blair?
It was announced on Wednesday that Josh Schwartz, the creator of the TV teen dramas "The O.C." and "Gossip Girl," will be writing "X-Men: First Class," another installment of the superhero franchise. Variety reports that the new film will focus on the students at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, rather than the adults like Wolverine and Storm.
On paper the deal seems to make sense: Schwartz is a writer with a proven track record for soapy high school angst; the comic book was originally envisioned by Stan Lee to be focused on mutant teenagers and their issues; and assembling the actors from the first three films has likely become too complicated and expensive to do again. But will the younger-skewing take alienate the true fans?
The previous movie, 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand," was the most financially successful of the series, bringing in over $234 million in the U.S. Some fans of the comic book, however, weren't happy with the liberties the script took with the source material. Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News spoke out on how the "Dark Phoenix" story from the book was shortchanged in the movie, writing, "I truly truly truly hate how they treated it." Others took exception to how major characters were killed off without much fanfare. David Cornelius at efilmcritic.com went so far as to call it "one of the very worst comic book films ever made."
So will Josh Schwartz's "First Class" franchise reboot push the core fanbase further away? It's difficult to say just yet. While he gained more notoriety for his shows about the rich and spoiled, Schwartz also co-created the geek-turned-spy series "Chuck," which is peppered with allusions to comics and sci-fi movies. And even if the fans reject this particular title, the franchise is branching out into other directions that might please them more.
Opening next year's summer movie season is "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," a prequel with Hugh Jackman returning to his breakout role. It will tell the story of how the mutant Logan was transformed into the metal-clawed superhero, with Liev Schreiber stepping into the role of his nemesis, Sabretooth. A brief montage of footage was shown at the San Diego Comic Con this past July to great applause. There was also a quick shot of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, another Marvel Comics character that may get his own spin-off movie.
Also in development is "Magneto," another "X-Men Origins" film about the early days of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr before the two friends became enemies. David S. Goyer, the co-writer of "Batman Begins," is on board to direct, but no cast has been announced. Ian McKellen, who so memorably played the villain in the first three "X-Men" movies, said he is unlikely to return for that movie, joking with Empire Online that, "I don't think I could get away with playing a 19-year-old."
Still, as a big fan of director Bryan Singer's first two "X-Men" movies, I personally hold out hope that a teen-oriented "First Class" flick will still deliver. Some of the most affecting moments in those movies were centered on the younger characters. The scene where Rogue (Anna Paquin) nearly kills her first kiss with her mutation or when Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) shows his parents his abilities got to the heart of the dilemma that's been a part of the X-Men stories from the beginning. With any luck, Josh Schwartz will turn in a script that's more "X" than "CW."
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