X-Men - The Series (general; ALL the movies)

[mamaleh]

I can't wait to see where his new turn takes him. I'm hopeful that it will result in great movie and stage performances that satisfy him and his fans artistically; and that are successful financially.

Ellen

[jo]

The secret's out


a.msn.com/r/2/BBAB916?m=en-ph

For the sound of the claws exiting and entering Wolverine’s flesh, they combined the sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath with the sounds of cracking nuts and, once again, chicken. (Photo: Marvel Comics/Release)



Sound effects alone have a hand in determining the success or failure of a great movie in Hollywood. They add to every movement on the screen, and their timing is critical. Certain sound effects from our favorite movies are so iconic that the instant we hear them, we can envision the object or character they belong to. Most of us know the sound of the lightsabers from Star Wars without any visual representation, for example. The interesting thing is that a lot of the time, animals are quite frequently the minor starts behind iconic sound effects. Here are the top twelve movie sound effects made by animals. Read more at: www.jetss.com/photos/2017/05/top-15-iconic-movie-sound-effects-made-animals/

[jo]

What the XMen franchise has brought to FOX --

www.tracking-board.com/superheroes-continue-to-save-fox-allowing-them-to-balance-their-content-studio-series/

Superheroes Continue to Save Fox, Allowing Them to Balance Their Content (Studio Series)
May 17, 2017

All images courtesy of 20th Century Fox
Who knew? Who would have predicted this ridiculous character from a horrible movie would end up fronting one of the most successful superhero flicks ever made? Sure, there were lots of fans from the character’s time in the comic books, but come on, plenty of times over the years those “fans” didn’t translate into good box office, simply because the quality wasn’t there so they didn’t bother to show up or, if they did, they weren’t enough to make a dent.

Ah, but there’s the key word when it comes to Deadpool — because you knew that’s the movie I was talking about — “quality.” In Ryan Reynolds, it had a producer-star who understood the character and what the fans wanted, found writers and a director who also got it, and the team worked on a relatively low budget (under $60 million, which might as well be peanuts for this genre) to produce a movie that grossed over $780 million worldwide, with over $360 million of that here at home.

Take away those numbers, and Fox would have had its worst showing in years, which makes the movie about the “merc with the mouth” the year’s MVP. No other single film was nearly as important to any studio’s success than Deadpool was to Fox’s. (Yes, one could make the argument that The Secret Life of Pets was a similar boon to Universal, but I would respond with two factors against that argument: it was animated, and it was released right after July 4th, peak of the Summer Movie Season, which meant that the studio was expecting the monster hit it got and wasn’t remotely as surprised by the film’s success as Fox — and, let’s face it, pretty much everyone else — was by Deadpool’s.)


One can scoff at the superhero movie trend, but it is impossible to ignore the enormous good fortune the studio has wrung from it. The whole thing began 17 years ago with Fox taking a chance on Bryan Singer’s vision to bring the X-Men to the big screen, and that movie’s resounding success (almost $300 million worldwide on a $75 million budget, in the year 2000, when international numbers were nothing close to what they are now), not only kickstarted the surge into the comic book world, but also, in retrospect, hammers home what an incredible deal Fox made with then bankrupt Marvel Comics back in the 90s for the rights to some of its characters. While nobody has ever really been able to figure out what to do with the other major property purchased at the time — the Fantastic Four — the X-Men franchise has been worth billions to the studio, not only in box office, but in all the ancillaries that go along with it.

Several times over the years, in fact, as the studio has done spinoffs and reboots and re-imaginings, a bunch of mutant heroes have returned as saviors to the film division’s bottom line. Even with the killing off of arguably the most popular character in that world — earlier this year in Logan — there is no end in sight for the franchise, with three more X-World flicks set for release in 2018. First up is another spinoff, The New Mutants, followed by the Deadpool sequel over the summer, and, just in time for Thanksgiving, a new X-Men tale called Dark Phoenix. That’s output to rival what Marvel has been doing with its cinematic universe, and far surpassing DC, which means that it’s hard to argue that anyone is doing more with what they have than Fox is.

If that were all that Fox had on its plate, of course, it would be something, but there is a lot more. The stunning success of Hidden Figures, as well as another shocking hit with the DreamWorks Animation comedy The Boss Baby, has already set the studio up for a solid year, even though only three movies have been put into wide release (Hidden Figures is technically a 2016 release, as it hit New York and Los Angeles on Christmas Day, so as to qualify for Oscar consideration, though nearly 99 percent of its domestic gross came from 2017, as it went into wide release on January 6). Those movies combined have almost been enough to make people forget what happened with that third movie, A Cure for Wellness, and how badly it flopped. Almost.

The thing is, though, no matter how awful Wellness performed (and it’ll end up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million), a Hidden Figures will cure a lot of ills, and not just financially. Making a movie like that, and seeing its worldwide box office appeal, reminds studios that there’s more to this than the latest tentpole and that audiences are hungry for genuine stories about genuine people. It gives us hope that all is not lost and that the mid-range drama is not dead, though it certainly is on life support. With Disney and Warner Bros. seeming to phase themselves out of that business, it sort of falls on the shoulders of 20th Century Fox to be one of the torch bearers in that area, especially with Sony and Paramount in so much trouble (but we’ll get to them soon enough).

That doesn’t mean that the studio isn’t neck deep in the tentpole business itself, obviously, as the reason why we’re focusing on Fox this particular week is because, in just two days, it’s going to unleash the latest entry in the Alien franchise with Alien: Covenant, which is a sequel to the dreary 2012 film Prometheus, or perhaps a prequel to the original 1979 flick Alien, or maybe a mix of the two, it’s often hard to keep up. Either way, it’s expected to make plenty of money, a week after Snatched did $17.5 million at the box office, which is not as high as hoped and which means there is a long way to go for it to become profitable. Regardless, following up a movie that might turn out to possibly barely break even with a big, monster sci-fi horror flick that should end up in the black despite middling reviews won’t do anything to slow down what is already a strong year.
(Quick aside, the jury is obviously out on the latest in the Wimpy Kid saga, The Long Haul, also out this weekend, which could end up doing nice family business, or could end up lost in the shuffle, we’ll have to check back on Monday about that.)

The rest of the year is fairly busy, with at least eight more movies on the way. Next month, Fox is counter-programming against Wonder Woman with the animated Captain Underpants from DreamWorks Animation, which has a distribution contract with the studio. The $120 million price tag is high, to put it mildly, but even if it has an opening below $30 million — which is where the tracking has it pegged — this is still a piece of branded entertainment, an animated one no less, and thus should have legs to last a while domestically, while also potentially bringing in a fair amount globally. Still, it’s a sizable gamble, though not one in which Fox has nearly as much invested as DWA does. There are the marketing costs, of course, but it’s DreamWorks Animation that has more to lose than the studio.

After that, things get a bit simpler. The third movie in the rebooted Apes trilogy, War for the Planet of the Apes, hits theaters July 14, a week after Sony’s latest Spider-Man reboot, and a week before the double-barreled threat of Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which is going to put a serious dent into any blockbuster’s profits. Even considering that, it’s hard to argue against the franchise movie aping the success of its predecessors.

That’s the last movie the studio has this summer, but the final quarter of the year is awfully busy. The Kingsman sequel hits the third week of September, and it’s a movie in which Fox has a lot of confidence, especially after the first one did more than $400 million worldwide on a budget of around $80 million. A month later comes the romantic drama The Mountain Between Us, starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet, and therefore serves as the studio’s first real Oscar-bait movie of the season. The second week of November gives us Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express remake, and then there is a trio of December films, one week after the next.

The same weekend as the new Star Wars film, Fox is giving us the animated Ferdinand, about the famous bull. The comedy adventure story from DWA and Blue Sky Animation features the voices of Kate McKinnon, David Tennant, Bobby Cannavale, and, as the title bull, John Cena, but it’s still curious why anyone would want to put up anything against The Last Jedi. Clearer is the decision to put Steven Spielberg’s untitled Pentagon Papers drama, starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, a week later. While Ferdinand could be seen as having a similar audience to Jedi, it would be tough to make the same statement about the Spielberg movie.


Same goes for the studio’s Christmas Day release, The Greatest Showman on Earth, aka Fox’s Big Push to Get Hugh Jackman an Oscar Nomination for Best Actor. Jackman is playing P.T. Barnum in the musical biopic, perhaps the part he was born to play, but quite frankly, he’s going to have at least a little competition in the awards conversation from… well, himself, actually. His final turn as the mutant X-Man Wolverine in March’s Logan was something of a crowning achievement, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that got more play. Either way, the Christmas Day release can’t hurt, as the last time he fronted one, Les Miserables, it brought home worldwide box office to the tune of $442 million.


With just 11 movies being released this year, it’s a little astonishing that there are at least 18 set to come out in 2018. Yes, 18. Now, three of them are the aforementioned X-Men movies and three more are DWA/Blue Sky flicks, but that’s still an enormous amount of content intended for theaters. Among the other dozen is the final installment in the Maze Runner trilogy, delayed because of the on-set accident that injured star Dylan O’Brien, a new Jennifer Lawrence-Frances Lawrence team-up in the thriller Red Sparrow, Robert Rodirguez’s long anticipated adaptation of Alita: Battle Angel, Shane Black’s The Predator, Steve McQueen’s period crime drama Widows, an untitled movie from über-TV guru Greg Berlanti, and, on Christmas Day, Bryan Singer’s Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Beyond that, there are only two movies currently set for 2019 (one of them is another Fox Marvel film), with, of course, four Avatar movies coming from James Cameron starting in December of 2020, though even I have to admit that it’s hard to count too strongly on sequels that will hit theaters almost a dozen years after the initial film did.

But those are issues to come. There’s still more than half of this year left to go, lots of movies to see the light of day, and a serious shot to finish second behind Disney in box office grosses and market share. That, it would seem, is the most important thing on the agenda — for now, at least.

Next week, things take a tragic turn, as we turn our lonely eyes to Paramount, with Sony on deck.

Neil Turitz is a filmmaker and journalist who has spent close to two decades working in and writing about Hollywood.

The success of the main studio has also allowed financial support to more artistic films ( and Oscar-worthy) through its FOX Searchlight subsidiary. It is quite evident that FOX aims to give movie audiences a balanced menu every year.

[jo]

Producer Hutch Parker talks about the future of the XMEN franchise...and their regard for Hugh - in the past, now ...and a possible future ( very, very remote!) --

www.ign.com/articles/2017/05/23/x-men-dark-phoenix-producer-says-nothing-is-out-of-bounds-now

X-Men Dark Phoenix Producer Says Nothing Is "Out of Bounds" Now


Hutch Parker discusses the evolution -- and future -- of the X-franchise.

By Scott Collura

Producer Hutch Parker is feeling pretty good about things right now, riding high on the success of the final Hugh Jackman Wolverine movie, Logan. With the acclaimed film now hitting Blu-ray, Parker joined Jackman and director James Mangold for a special screening of the black and white version of the film -- dubbed Logan Noir -- at the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn last week for something of a victory lap.
But he’s also looking forward to the X-Men’s future, including the next “core” film in the franchise, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which will pick up where X-Men: Apocalypse left off and (obviously) take a new tact with the classic Phoenix storyline which was previously adapted in the third film. I recently chatted with Parker about the plan for Dark Phoenix, what it’s like making an X-Men movie without Wolverine in it, and more. Read on for part one of our chat…


Spoilers follow for Logan.




IGN: Do you feel like now because this genre has evolved and so many bigger and crazier comic-book stories have been told on the screen, when approaching Dark Phoenix you can be a little more true to the source material? In the original comic, for example, they go into space and it's much more cosmic and epic in a way. Is that kind of the general idea here with this film?

Hutch Parker: Well, you know, I don't want to go into anything specific, but certainly just as a philosophical matter I don't think there's any territory that's out of bounds. I think part of what these have done is -- and I think there's more to come -- the expanding of the genre paradigms for comic book movies. And we're just at the beginning, and I sort of half-jokingly say you could easily do a romantic comedy. You could do that because at their core you’re talking about characters, whatever their challenges interpersonally, emotionally, or psychologically, who happen to have powers. And so when you really embrace that and you commit yourself to try to depict it in as substantive a way as you can, whether that's a tone like Deadpool or a tone like Guardians or even like Logan's, you begin to see that there's a really broad horizon and that includes where do the storylines go, how intimate can it be or how expansive can it be? And I think you do have to attend to the sort of core values of film, which is that the audience wants to have a relationship with the characters, they want to understand what's going on there. There are certain things that comics can have a little bit more freedom in then when you're asking an audience to engage in it as a piece of cinema, but I do feel like the canvas is much bigger and wider and that we're being invited and frankly challenged to take risks, to be a little bit different. And that's fun, that's exciting.



IGN: So what is the plan for the main X-Men franchise now? I know you have the Dark Phoenix movie going, but it feels as though the cast is locked into period films in a way. That seems like it could potentially be a franchise problem in that they don't exist in the same time as Deadpool or even I guess The New Mutants. Is the plan to continue to set those sort of core X-Men in the past?

HP: I think as you've identified Dark Phoenix is kind of following on what we've done in First Class and Apocalypse and Days of Future Past, but we’re moving pretty fast towards the present and I think it will open up the possibility of expanding the world to kind of include or at least touch on some of these other arenas, you know kind of other characters, other times, and things like that. We also know within the world now we have experienced time travel, we have experienced so many different tools and techniques for moving fluidly wherever one wants to. And I think the key for us in all the conversations with [Dark Phoenix writer-director] Simon [Kinberg] and the various filmmakers is really letting the stories we feel are best told to kind of dictate where we go. When we find a story we really believe is one that should be told, how do we best tell it and you know what do we need to tell that story most effectively? I think to the good, the universe is such that there are a lot of options, there a lot of opportunities. So that's kind of what's guiding us. It’s a long-winded way of saying I think we have flexibility and I think you may see some of that intersection in the future.




IGN: Is it scary to now be embarking on an X-Men movie with Dark Phoenix that will not have Hugh Jackman in it, and presumably not have Wolverine in it?

HP: No, because honestly I've never believed that... I mean, we’re lucky in that we have a lot of iconic characters, but I really think the key to any movie is that you tell the story kind of in a fulsome way, with depth, with skill, and you will find your audience. So the idea of having Hugh in it, I'd love to have him in it if there were a meaningful role for him to play. I think one of the mistakes that people historically have made in Hollywood, and there are countless examples of this, is making the assumption that if the movie worked before, if we just remake it it'll work again. And that's the same mistake as if we just put this big element into the middle of a movie that'll mean it works. And that's a false assumption. Would I like to have Hugh? Always. He's one of the finest guys around and is such a pleasure and so iconic in that character. But I think in the Dark Phoenix story that we're preparing, we feel really good about it and it's an opportunity to do something also that is unique and different and more specific in ways that previous movies haven’t really had the opportunity to be and that what those things are will fulfill what we're trying to do. So you never know whether they're going to work. We didn't know on Logan. But we feel very good about the story we're telling in the movie we hope to make and we hope the audience will too.




IGN: Now, you've been involved in these films from the beginning, haven't you?

HP: Yeah, in one role or another, meaning for the last four or five years I've been producing and before that I was at the studio for something like 20 years.



IGN: So what's it like to see how far this genre has come in the past 15 or 20 years? Really, you know, the trend kind of started with the X-Men movies and Spider-Man over at Sony.

HP: It's pretty amazing, and we owe a debt of gratitude to Bryan Singer and Lauren Shuler Donner for what they did with those early movies and the door they kicked open with the tone of the first X-Men. [It was] incredibly bold to open with something as sacred as, you know, the concentration camps, and in my opinion it reset the tonal boundaries for these movies and invited a different level of seriousness to them than we had seen before that. And I think they’ve continue to evolve since, and so for me sometimes more intimately and sometimes a little bit more sort of removed, it's been incredibly exciting to watch that evolve, knowing how incredibly rich and fruitful the underlying material is. At the end of the day, it's all about the underlying material and part of it has to be credited to that, and then I think you have the audience to credit because they have a lot to do with how they cast their votes. Ultimately as much as it's a business, it's a democracy. And the audience votes on how they feel based on the way they spend their money for tickets. So I think they play an important role.

And then I would I would tip my hat to the filmmakers because, as all of us know, it has so much to do with the filmmaker, and the quality of the material has gone on to attract really remarkable storytellers. And it will continue to because I think the horizon is broad and wide in terms of where these films can go tonally with these kinds of stories. We've now seen that with the ratings and in all ways the canvas is getting wider and larger, which doesn't necessarily mean we now all go make bigger movies. It actually means in some ways the opposite: You've got the flexibility to do them big when the scale is required or to do something more intimate when that's the better approach. And I find that really exhilarating as somebody who's involved in helping to articulate the stories and see them brought to the screen. You've got a tremendous amount of flexibility now.



IGN: It is such a vast world to pull from in the comics that there's got to be no shortage of material to spread around among all the filmmakers working on X-Men universe films, right?

HP: Yeah, that's absolutely true. In many ways there's more work than any few of us can do. And so luckily we've got other really high quality personnel and people, producers and directors and key personnel, that are drawn to the world. And that's great all the way around. It's great for these movies, it's great for emerging filmmakers, it's great for established filmmakers who want to kind of explore new territory. It's a really exciting place to be working.


Check back tomorrow for part two of my chat with Hutch Parker, as we delve into Logan… and X-23’s future!

If they ever, ever persuade Hugh to come back as Wolverine -- hope it is for a romantic comedy The many loves of Wolverine, without the tragic angst ( maybe more of his comedic romantic longings)


Jo

[jo]

Wow - what an image!

*Either this evokes the first 2 XMen movies, with Wolverine as the leader of the mutants!


*Or this is like the ending of the stage musical Les Miserables, where the ghosts do the famous walk to the footlights ( a trademark for Trevor Nunn-directed work), with Valjean as the leader of the oppressed and the rebels!


Jo

[jo]

An insightful exploration of what caused the craze for comicbook film adaptations/auperhero movies -- fairly long...I will reprint only the portions that discusses the first XMen movie --

www.popmatters.com/feature/true-origin-superhero-film-craze-xmen-comics/


Excerpts --

Prologue

“Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward…” -Professor Charles Xavier

With this short, pre-credits narration, X-Men begins the arduous task of introducing audiences to the dense, complex world of mutants. In the DVD commentary, Singer admits that he added the narration late in the filmmaking process, after realizing that he needed to better explain the world. A few paragraphs back I tried to succinctly summarize the premise of the X-Men Universe. This film had to establish the concept of mutants, the various ways in which they are viewed, the major sides of the conflict, as well as introduce no less than 12 significant characters. Oh, and it should probably also have a plot, a villainous plan and, ideally, develop the characters and relationships enough for the audience to be invested. Over its svelte 104-minute running time, the film accomplishes nearly all of these goals with remarkable efficiency. The plot, Magneto’s grand plan, certainly falls victim to the overcrowded nature of the film. It is not surprising that the next X-Men film was much more successful at telling a rollicking, fun adventure because this film did all the heavy-lifting of setting things up. What is surprising is how satisfying the film remains despite being bogged down by reams of exposition.


Poland - 1944

After the credits, we come to the Auschwitz scene which is, simply put, one of the most remarkable and important scenes in any comic book film. In this short scene, screenwriter David Hayter and director Bryan Singer set a tone for the film that takes the material very seriously and grounds it in reality and history. It would be very difficult for critics or audiences to dismiss X-Men as a silly little comic book film when the opening scene depicts a young boy being torn from his parents as they are sent to their deaths during the Holocaust. The trauma of the event causes the boy to reach out and manifest his mutant powers of magnetism for the very first time. The scene feels realistic and serious, and it introduces the theme of intolerance that will underlay the rest of the film. It calls to mind Schindler’s List, which was released just seven years before X-Men, as well as highly-publicized genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia in the mid-‘90s. Extreme intolerance and genocide wasn’t far from people’s minds in 2000.

A grounding in reality extended to all aspects of the film. Magneto is not an over-the-top, cartoon villain. He is a man driven by the scars of his youth, terrified by the thought of a potential Holocaust for mutants, and taking misguided, extreme steps to avoid that. Realism is a clear goal of the film and even extends to names. Magneto is rarely referred to as such. He is Erik. Wolverine is Logan, Cyclops is Scott, Iceman is Bobby. It also extends to the wardrobe, and the controversial decision to eschew the colorful spandex of the comics for street clothes or black leather X-Men costumes. It extends to the manifestation of powers. Magneto’s use of his powers for the first time is not a flashy display of energy, as it is often depicted in the comics, but as invisible as real magnetic fields. Rogue’s power-draining, Jean’s telekinesis and Xavier’s telepathy are similarly subtle. Many of the film’s mutants struggle with their powers. They are painful (“Every time.”), uncontrollable, and they make the characters into outcasts. Singer intentionally limited the powers, not having Storm, Jean or Rogue fly, for example, because he felt they needed limitations.

All of this may make the film sound dour and maudlin, but it’s not. It just takes its subject matter seriously, the light and the dark, the fun and the sad. The more serious comic book films of the next decade, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Logan (2017), owe an enormous debt to the trail blazed by this scene.


Mississippi - The Not Too Distant Future

The next scene moves to the present day of the movie and depicts a more typical manifestation of mutants powers. The everyday calm of a typical suburban house in Mississippi is shattered when Rogue (née Marie) gives her boyfriend a seizure after kissing him for the first time. In its own way, it is just as terrifying as Magneto’s emergence as a mutant. In that moment, the shock, the fear, the confusion, the chaos felt by Rogue and her parents, we understand how complex this issue must be to the world at large.


The Senate

Which brings us to the floor of the United States Senate, where Jean Grey makes a presentation on mutants before being grilled by Senator Robert Kelly, who is leading the charge for mutant registration. The two preceding scenes have prepared the audience to, on the one hand, be apprehensive about the slippery slope this legislation represents, on the other hand, be understanding of the fear and confusion the general public must be feeling. Kelly is a villain, like Magneto, with valid concerns about the situation, but a misguided and flawed solution.
The Senate scene ends with the first interaction between Charles Xavier and Magneto, two characters with a clear history and affection, and a shared goal of ending mutant persecution, but who are irrevocably opposed when it comes to solutions. Much has been written on the similarities of these characters to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, two charismatic, eloquent, intelligent leaders during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Both wanted equality for African Americans, but King’s peaceful approach was contrasted by Malcolm X’s militant rhetoric. It is an interesting comparison, especially since the X-Men comic debuted right in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. And since then, the X-Men has appealed to so many marginalized groups as they strive for acceptance.



Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier (X-men)



More relevant to the film, however, is the casting of two respected, classically-trained actors in the roles. Patrick Stewart was fairly well-known to general audiences for his work in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) on television. Starring in a popular science-fiction property as an intelligent, stern and yes, bald leader made him dream casting for Xavier for over a decade. Sir Ian McKellan was not as familiar to moviegoers, but would soon be a household name from his work as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003). Like the casting of Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman in Superman: The Movie (1978),the presence of these two pros legitimized and elevated the whole film. Working on a genre film was still considered slumming it for serious actors at this point, rather than the next logical step after an Oscar nomination or win. Stewart and McKellan were two elder statesmen of the acting profession, and their dignified presence hangs over the film even when they are not on screen. Xavier’s X-Men and Magneto’s Brotherhood are, in a way, pawns in the grand chess match between their leaders ideologies. Fittingly, the final scene of the film finds those leaders playing chess, and trading barbs, in Magneto’s plastic prison cell, both fully aware that their destinies remain forever intertwined.



Alberta, Canada - Dive Bar

The final vital piece of the film, however, is introduced in the next scene, and the final one I will deeply explore. Hugh Jackman’s casting as Logan/Wolverine is one of the most well-known recasting stories in Hollywood history. To recount it for the umpteenth time: Dougray Scott was cast in the role but had to drop out due to production delays on Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), in which he played the villain. In a scramble, Singer replaced him with Jackman three weeks into production and the rest, as they say, is history. Who could have known how this would turn out? At the time, there was an outcry from fans that this 6’2” Australian, who had only appeared in two Australian films and various television series, was all wrong for the 5’3” Canadian mutant. Even after these concerns were effectively silenced in his first minute of screentime, as he fully embodied the essence of the character, no one could have predicted the lifespan and impact of Jackman’s Wolverine. He would dominate the X-Men franchise, appearing in some capacity in nine films (ten if you count Deadpool’s love of the Jack-man) over seventeen years. This film launched a perfect melding of actor and character that has rarely been seen before or since.





Wolverine is introduced to Rogue, and audiences, when she takes shelter in an isolated Canadian bar, having apparently run away from home after manifesting her powers. Wolverine is the reigning cage fight champion, seemingly impervious to pain or injury. When one of his defeated opponents confronts him later in the night, feeling he was unjustly beaten by a mutant, Wolverine has to pop his signature metal claws (three in each hand) to warn him off.


X-Men makes the smart move of having two audience surrogates, Rogue and Wolverine, lead us through the rest of the film. Rogue is young, frightened, and new to her powers. Wolverine is a grizzled, world-weary wanderer. Both are unfamiliar with Xavier’s X-Men, Magneto’s Brotherhood, or their ongoing conflict. As they learn, we learn. Over the film, Rogue finds her strength and confidence, while Wolverine learns to get involved in the mutant fight and connect with other mutants. With these two characters joining together, the textbook perfection of X-Men’s opening scenes comes to a close. There were still many characters to introduce, and the plot to kick into gear, but the brilliance of X-Men lies in these scenes. The start of the film, and the start of a new era of Hollywood blockbusters.


The Rest of the Film

X-Men is not a perfect film by any means, and it’s worth noting some of its shortcomings. It’s rightly criticized for being too heavily focused on Wolverine. In this film, it’s more forgivable given that he is the primary audience surrogate, but it set the trend for the remaining films to relegate the ensemble to Wolverine’s supporting characters. That is not the spirit of the X-Men. Also, as I stated earlier, Magneto’s plan feels underdeveloped and, frankly, pretty hokey. He plans to artificially mutate all the world’s leaders at peace summit in New York City using a device that he has successfully tested once and, unbeknownst to him, killed its subject. This plot actually diminishes Magneto as a character and, if not for McKellan’s conviction, could have seriously harmed the film.

From a filmmaking standpoint, the $70 million budget was relatively modest for a film of this kind, but Singer manages to make it work. Like Blade, CGI was used quite seldom and, when it is, it is not overly impressive. The modest budget works in the film’s favour at times, however, with Singer often shooting it as a tight, intimate film as opposed to a wide angle epic. X-Men was also shot on a very tight schedule, as its release was suddenly moved up from December to July. Singer claims this rushed production caused some problems. In particular, it meant that frequent Singer collaborator, John Ottman, was unable to work on the film as editor or composer. What results is disjointed editing, by three different editors, that is particularly off-putting during action scenes. They are full of strange cuts, out-of-place reaction shots, and surprisingly low-energy. Michael Kamen’s work as the composer is also fairly unremarkable and unmemorable. John Ottman would be a welcome addition to the crew on future Singer X-Men films.



Finally, a shout-out to the lingering ‘x’ in the opening Fox logo. I like any film that alters the studio logo for its own purposes, and this one is subtly great.


I recognize that somehow, in this book-length article, I failed to discuss Halle Berry’s Storm, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos’ Mystique, Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey or James Marsden’s Cyclops at any length. They were not my focus but, luckily, superhero franchises always seem to offer another chance. Look for more on all of them in future X-Men installments.
None of the achievements of X-Men as a film would carry much weight if it was not a success. Fortunately, it became the eighth highest grossing film in North America, and ninth highest grossing film worldwide, for the year 2000. It earned four times its production budget. Critics and fans alike were impressed with its maturity, action, and faithfulness to the comics. Fans had been hurt before, and the film’s production was put under intense scrutiny at a time when widespread internet usage was still new. But fans were rewarded with a film closer to their hopes than they could have expected, and they rejoiced. Sony was already into pre-production on Spider-Man, but the success must have given them confidence. Meanwhile, besides beginning work on a sequel to X-Men, Fox began planning an adaptation of Daredevil. Over at Universal, a Hulk film entered the pipeline. Word was spreading in Hollywood that comic book films were a good bet, and the comic book film boom was about to gear up.

[hughmanity]

Most of you guys have seen this?  I'm not sure I have, but it's very cool.

[jo]

Yup, that was the screen/chemistry test? The reading with Bryan Singer took place way before this one, it seems.

How young he looks! LOL - I shouldn't be surprised -- I saw him maybe less than a year earlier in OKLAHOMA! in London but didn't know him from Adam then

Jo

[jo]

Very interesting ( and candidly amusing) propositions re recasting the entire XMEN actors! The authors has expressed strong opinions -- it seems no one ( of the current set of actors) was really that good in any of the roles, except for the originally-cast Wolverine! He thinks Jennifer Lawrence only phones in her Mystique performance, Michael Fassbender should just go back to his search for Oscar glory, and James McAvoy is simply aping Patrick S...He is even recasting Gambit -- and wants Tatum to go away

www.cbr.com/x-men-that-need-to-be-recast/

With Jackman gone, Fox has to know that the character is bigger than the actor. They must cast a new Wolverine in the wake of Logan because this isn’t even your ordinary character, he’s a franchise. This definitely puts the pressure on because it’s one of the biggest roles in superhero movies, so if we want more of Wolverine with X-23, the X-Men, X-Force or simply cutting loose with another R-rated solo, the studio should take their time and get it right.

Ryan Reynolds tried to goad Jackman back for a Deadpool appearance but we’re glad he went off into the sunset because he did a great job, running his course fully. Now, with Cable in the X-verse, we could use time-travel or Fox’s love for messing with continuity to get a new Logan. Once Jackman endorses, we should be good to go!

[mamaleh]

Now, THAT would have been interesting to see. And I have a feeling Halle would have enjoyed filming those scenes.

www.bleedingcool.com/2017/08/10/halle-berry-hugh-jackman-secret-romantic-backstory-storm-wolverine/

Ellen

[jo]

What the XMen franchise has meant --

www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2017/08/10/the-unique-strength-of-the-x-men-franchise/#734384c611f7

Aug 10, 2017 @ 03:54 PM 822

The Unique Strength Of The 'X-Men' Franchise

Dani Di Placido , Contributor



It’s been fascinating to watch the superhero genre explode in popularity, and while Marvel remains the undisputable king, X-Men was the bold pioneer that started the boom.

By nature, superhero stories tend to lean toward power fantasies. The big names, such as Superman and Wonder Woman, are demigods. Batman, the billionaire genius who never loses a fight, isn’t quite human, even if he pretends to be.

But the X-Men were different from the beginning. Created in the 60’s, a decade of social upheaval, the X-Men were labeled “mutants” rather than “superheroes,” which underlined their underdog status. Struggles for equality were tearing apart the establishment, and the X-Men reflected the real world in their never-ending fight against bigotry.

But their origin was somewhat of a happy accident. Stan Lee was finding it more and more difficult to conjure convoluted origin stories; there’s only so many radioactive spiders and super-soldier experiments out there. So, seeking an easy solution, he decided that the X-Men had their powers simply because they were born this way. They were mutants. On the surface, it was kind of a lazy solution.  


It was also a stroke of genius.A superpower granted by a fatalistic accident is very different from being superpowered from birth. Nobody chooses the circumstances of their birth, and the word “mutant” is anything but flattering. Being born a mutant automatically makes you different, a freak, a potential threat that society won’t respond kindly to.


Thus, mutants became both the voice of the oppressed, and a power fantasy. They could represent any persecuted minority imaginable. They suffer from government and societal discrimination, and their wicked super powers meant they could actually do something about it. The X-Men film franchise works best when it takes advantage of that malleable allegory.



In my opinion, Logan was the best superhero film ever made, by a wide margin. The apocalyptic landscape of despair and conflict was the result of society's unending hatred for mutantkind. Inflicting the almighty, telekinetic Charles Xavier with dementia turned the old man into a lethal weapon, and tragically, made him unaware of it.

The upcoming television series Legion continues to explore that “disabled superhero” narrative by telling the story of Xavier’s son, who is even more gifted than his father, but suffers from schizophrenia. The Gifted tells the story of a regular family who realize that their children are all mutants, and are forced to go on the run from the government. They must rely on an underground railroad of mutants to survive, and are hunted down by the sentinels (robots designed to slaughter mutants).

Normally, when one watches a movie or a show focused on “issues,” there’s often an accompanying feeling of obligation. Stories of the oppressed are usually deeply moving, but they’re also kind of a downer. The unique advantage of the X-Men universe is that it can tell similar stories, communicate exactly the same themes, but with a glossy coat of super-powered paint.

Because really, we watch television to be entertained. We watch it while eating. We watch it while chilling with friends and loved ones. Putting on a film about the horrors of the Holocaust, slavery, or mental illness might be enlightening, but they’re always going to be difficult. And for the majority of us, they’re always going to be second choice to something less painful.

We live in a time where we’re very aware of the difficulties the oppressed face, and the internet rips itself apart discussing them. It’s all a bit exhausting. But oppressed superheroes? They can uplift us and educate us, at least, as much as fiction can. We can escape into their worlds without going too far, still exploring the same climate of fear and mistrust, but with so many bells and whistles we hardly notice the preaching.

This gives X-Men a genuine advantage over the mighty Marvel. That advantage has always been there, but it isn’t always put to good use. X-Men movies tend to fail when the team go up against a mammoth, world-ending threat, like X-Men: The Last Stand, or X-Men: Apocalypse.



But the franchise thrives when it focuses on the two competing factions of the Brotherhood and the X-Men, a struggle of idealism vs. force. It’s not as simple as good vs. evil, but rather, competing ideologies, both of which are genuinely attempting to improve the world, in very different ways. It’s always a relevant theme, and bears particular relevance to today’s divided political landscape.

I’m not sure if the X-Men franchise will succeed in wrenching a great story from the wreckage of today’s news headlines. Legion has received very positive reviews so far, and The Gifted sounds interesting, from the concept and trailer, anyway. While both have weak connections to the films, they’re unlikely to cross paths. The X-Men film plotline is ridiculously tangled, and now that Wolverine is out, Deadpool looks to be the new face of the franchise, and he’s unlikely to engage in an ideological dispute.

But Deadpool looks to be pushing the films into younger, fourth-wall breaking, superhero trope-tearing territory, while the tv series seem to be returning the franchise to its roots. Both offer a break from the standard superhero antics that are slowly losing their luster.

The elements are there for the X-Men franchise to compete, and maybe even exceed Marvel and DC’s totalitarian grasp over the superhero landscape. I sure hope so, because while I enjoy Marvel’s colorful wise-cracking, and DC’s … Wonder Woman, I could really do with some variety in my superhero diet.


X-Men changed the public perception of the superhero once, perhaps they will again; the time has never been riper.

 

[jo]

The social media post that launched more than a thousand tweets

Please click on the tweet and enjoy the comments on "vintage" dressing

[jo]

Sad news -- Len Wein, Wolverine creator, has passed!


www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/len-wein-wolverine-co-creator-watchmen-editor-dead-69-article-1.3485402







RIP!

[jo]

A longer message from Hugh on his Instagram post --

http://instagram.com/p/BY4WQqeDqZQ

[jo]

Len Wein on WOLVERINE.

[jo]

FOX Chairman and CEO Stacey Snider's comments from her interview re the future of the business and the directions that FOX is taking --

variety.com/2017/film/features/stacey-snider-21st-century-fox-first-year-1202563799/

Excerpts :

The summer box office hit its lowest levels in two decades. What happened?

It’s product driven, but I think it’s threatening. It has to do with the familiarity of the product, the abundance of sequels. When I go and I sit in a theater and I see this film, part two; this rebooted; I’m uncomfortable, because nothing is differentiated. How does anything feel worthy if everything feels like a paler iteration of what came before?


How are you building franchises?

The franchises we make still need to be original. “Deadpool” was part of a cinematic universe, but it felt unique. We’ve got a “Predator” film coming out that is unexpected and utterly fresh. I just imagined that it would take 500 hours to read the script — that it would be interior jungle, exterior more jungle and then fighting happens, but Emma [Watts] went out and recruited Shane Black. From the first page, it didn’t read like a “Predator” film. It’s set in suburbia. There’s a little boy and his dad at the center of the action. The “X-Men” is a franchise we intend to vigorously mine, but with an eye toward great variety. “Kings-man” can be a franchise. It’s based on a graphic novel but it’s really the creation of Matthew Vaughn and his wild imagination.


Will you reboot “Wolverine” with another actor now that Hugh Jackman has said he’s retiring?

Anything’s possible.


Should “Logan” be in the Oscar race?

Absolutely. The way it combines classic storytelling with superhero lore is brilliant.


There are so many comic-book movies. Do you worry about superhero fatigue?

If we’re going to make a superhero movie, we have to ask ourselves: “What’s our version? What’s a Fox Marvel film? When you look at films like “Deadpool” or “Logan” or the upcoming “New Mutants,” you’ll see they have their own personality. Great effort has been put into making sure they’re differentiated. “New Mutants” is about these teenagers who are just coming into their powers. It’s like watching mutants go through adolescence and they have no impulse control, so they’re dangerous. The only solution is to put them in a “Breakfast Club” detention/“Cuckoo’s Nest” institutional setting. It protects the people on the outside, but it’s strange and combustible inside. The genre is like a haunted-house movie with a bunch of hormonal teenagers. We haven’t seen it as a superhero movie whose genre is more like “The Shining” than “we’re teenagers let’s save the world.”

[jo]

Richard Bradshaw is Hugh's brother-in-law --


www.imdb.com/name/nm0103525/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

[jo]

Many amusing speculations to a potential Disney buyout of FOX earlier reported ( BUT which Wall Street Journal has reported as NO LONGER ACTIVE as of Monday -- see article under "Understanding the Film Business" ) --

observer.com/2017/11/disney-20th-century-fox-marvel-x-men-crossover-movies/

Excerpts --

X-Men vs. Avengers

The main X-Men franchise has begun to grow stale with last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse underwhelming and the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix not yet drumming up a ton of excitement. It’s time for some new blood.

On one hand, Disney would never have the stones to make a hard R-rated action comedy like Deadpool, a hard R-rated violent neo-Western like Logan or a straight up horror film like the upcoming The New Mutants. But on the other hand, we want to see the Incredible Hulk fight Wolverine. Right now. We don’t care what it takes to get Hugh Jackman back. Just start backing up truckloads of money to his front door in Australia ASAP.

Twitter is practically bursting with fan tweets wanting Hugh to come back for a tie-up with Marvel heroes.

[jo]

And fans continue to build up their hopes

[jo]

Was casting in the XMen franchise right or wrong?

www.cbr.com/miscast-x-men-roles/


Three cited as very good casting was that of Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Dafne Keen -- that is why these trio should get an Ensemble award for Acting! Calling on SAG!

Author was wrong about Anna Paquin's background -- called her "unknown" and talked of her southern accent. Anna won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for THE PIANO and was Canadian-born/NewZealand-raised!

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BcIgEoTDrpH

A million LIKES in one day!

People want them back for another co-star film project!

[jo]

The Disney takeover has had tremendous impact on the movie landscape. For more details on that business arrangement ( please check the thread UNDERSTANDING THE FILM BUSINESS).

But there have been many film blogger and fan speculations on what happens to the X-Men!

www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/x-men/269702/x-men-how-do-you-put-the-mutants-in-the-marvel-cinematic-universe


There have been a deluge of social media pleas asking Hugh to return to the fold as Wolverine.

However, Hugh seems categorical in saying he will NEVER don the claws again... but he would welcome a new Wolverine fighting it out with the Avengers.

In a sense, Hugh is in a good place now - because feeling fulfilled with his last Wolverine film in LOGAN ( and especially because of the critics and fan reception) and from his own perspective of the completion of his saga of the Wolverine role, he does not have to be anxious on what the Disney takeover of the franchise could mean to him. For one, would LOGAN have been made under the aegis of Disney?

Jo

[jo]

Of course the fans won't be silenced!

[jo]

More speculations on what happens to the movie mutants, when Mr. Mouse arrives !


www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/x-men-fantastic-four-flux-fox-disney-deal-1067672

[njr]

www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/x-men-spinoff-%E2%80%98dark-phoenix%E2%80%99-pushed-back-to-2019-%E2%80%98the-new-mutants%E2%80%99-moves-to-next-summer/ar-BBKLkW6

Nancy