In an article over at Deadline about 20th Century Fox production president Emma Watts signing a deal to stay with the studio until 2015, the site mentions “Fox has just closed a deal with Matthew Vaughn to come back and direct the sequel to X-Men: First Class“.

Over the past few months it was looking likely that Vaughn would return. In November James McAvoy said Vaughn was already pitching ideas to the studio, and Fox Chairman and CEO of Filmed Entertainment Tom Rothman said getting Vaughn back to direct was a priority. In the past Fox has allowed their directors to escape to other projects (X3 lost Bryan Singer to Superman Returns), so it’s good to know Vaughn has a deal in place to return. The site also mentions that Singer, who produced First Class, will also be back as producer.

Simon Kinberg, who co-wrote X-Men: The Last Stand and co-produced X-Men: First Class, was hired to begin work on the script 2 months ago so they should already have a basic layout for the sequel. Vaughn’s co-writer Jane Goldman said she’s on-board if Vaughn wants her earlier this month, so she will likely be hired to re-write the script at some point.

All the cast are signed following their deals on the first film, so it’ll just be a case of waiting until they have a script ready. One advantage this time round is that they have a lot more time and aren’t rushing to make a release date a mere 13 months away (as was the case with First Class). If all goes according to plan we may be seeing the mutants on-screen again in 2014.

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The most recent update on a potential sequel to Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class came from Fox Chairman and CEO of Filmed Entertainment Tom Rothman last year who said they were “working hard” on the script and getting Vaughn back to direct was a priority.

In a brief interview with SHH Michael Fassbender joked that he had “no choice” but to play Magneto again as he’s signed for multiple films. He also said development on the sequel was at “the ground level” so it’ll probably be a while before he has to wear the helmet again.

X-Men: First Class co-writer Jane Goldman was also asked recently about the next film, and she’s on-board if Matthew Vaughn wants her (which is likely).

From MTV:

“James and Michael brought so much to them that I think it’s entirely natural to be talking about where those characters would go next,” she said. “It was inherent in their stories and their arcs. There are so many interesting places to go.”

“In terms of what’s going on with that, again from my point of view, it’s down to what Matthew [Vaughn] decides to do,” she said. “If he decides he wants to direct the next one and if he wants me on board, I’m 100 percent there.”

In November James McAvoy said Vaughn was pitching ideas to 20th Century Fox, so at this point it’s looking likely that Vaughn will be back. Simon Kinberg, who co-wrote X-Men: The Last Stand and co-produced X-Men: First Class, was hired to begin work on the script 2 months ago so we may start hearing things about the next film this year.

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Though Kick-Ass didn’t set the box office alight in 2010 it managed to make over $150 million in total if you include DVD and Blu-ray sales, which isn’t bad when the movie itself cost just $28 million to produce.

People involved with the film have been talking about a potential Kick-Ass 2 over recent years with hints here and there, and the latest update comes from screenwriter Jane Goldman (who also co-wrote X-Men: First Class with Matthew Vaughn) who says that while she doesn’t see herself and Vaughn writing/directing, there have been discussions with someone who might.

From MTV:

“I think the only thing that is fairly sure is that right now, Matthew doesn’t have any plans to direct it. He and I are not currently talking about writing it either,” she told MTV. “It may well be that Matthew oversees ['Kick-Ass 2'] in a producer role, and I may also be involved in that capacity. I know that there is somebody that Matthew has been talking to who would be interested in writing and directing that. That would be cool.”

Goldman goes on to say that while the idea of a sequel is “very tempting” she’s “a little on the fence” regarding whether a sequel is actually needed. Mark Millar debuted the comic version of Kick-Ass 2 on October 20th, and the sixth issue was released just last week, so fans can already find out what happens to Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. It’s just a matter of whether we’ll see those events unfold on the big screen.

Hopefully Vaughn and Goldman’s lack of direct involvement in Kick-Ass 2 means they’re focusing their attention on the X-Men: First Class sequel which is currently being written.

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The Gotham Independent Film Awards took place yesterday and Fox Chairman and CEO of Filmed Entertainment Tom Rothman was in attendance to receive a career tribute award along with Charlize Theron, Gary Oldman, and David Cronenberg. While there Rothman was asked about potential sequels to Rise of the Planet of the Apes and X-Men: First Class, which have seen movement recently, and he said getting directors Rupert Wyatt and Matthew Vaughn back was a priority.

From Coming Soon:

Rothman confirmed to us that they plan on continuing on from both movies and they’re going to try to get both Rupert Wyatt and Matthew Vaughn back to direct once they get the scripts together. “Both of them were really great scripts and so we have to be sure to get great scripts again,” Rothman said. “We’re working hard on the scripts for both of them, but we have every hope of moving forward with them.”

The CEO also confirmed to THR that the studio will be pushing Andy Serkis for some awards recognition over the upcoming months for his role as Caesar.

“I think we may be at the place where we will see a first-ever in Hollywood this year, which is to see Andy Serkis get nominated for a best supporting actor for Planet of the Apes, even though his face never actually appears. But his performance appears, so we are going to push that hard.”

“The emotionality – what you see and what you feel – he did it. I saw him. I watched him. Then they digitally overlaid – you can think of it as a costume – the skin and the hair of an ape. But I tell you the thing that people felt – and a lot of people where moved when they saw the movie – is because of his performance.”

20th Century Fox haven’t exactly been consistent with their handling of the X-Men and Planet of the Apes franchises, but despite slightly rushed productions Fox have successfully breathed new life into both properties. The involvement of Rupert Wyatt and Matthew Vaughn was a large part of why both movies were great, so getting them back will be key.

Reports suggest Wyatt is already locked following the deal he made for the first Apes film, and screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have signed to return, so it’ll just be a case of getting the script together. As far as we know Vaughn has no deal to return for an X-Men sequel, but James McAvoy recently said Vaughn was pitching ideas to Fox, so it looks promising.

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A few weeks ago news emerged that X-Men: The Last Stand writer and X-Men: First Class producer Simon Kinberg was in the early stages of writing a script for the sequel. So far he’s the only creative talent confirmed (the cast are already locked), and we’re just waiting to see if Matthew Vaughn will return to direct.

Well in a recent interview James McAvoy said Vaughn is pitching ideas to 20th Century Fox, and everyone wants to make sure they have a good script before moving forward.

From io9:

…I know that with Charles, you either have to write him out of the movie or give him an interesting story. He can’t just become the guy that we saw in the first three movies. He just had two major things happen to him. He’s lost his best friend, essentially, and he’s just been paralyzed from the waist down. Which is just a huge, huge blow to his considerable ego. So he’s got to deal with that.

And I don’t think we can just brush over that and go, “yeah I’m in a wheelchair now,” because Professor X is in a wheelchair. You’ve got to deal with that, I don’t care if he’s a superhero and has brain powers or not, he’s just had a huge part of his physical life taken away from him, by someone he cares about more than anyone else. So he’s got to deal with that. That’s part of the interesting ideas that we’re talking about with Matthew [Vaughn], that Matthew’s very excited about which I think is fantastic, but I can’t really get into them with you because they may (or may not) form the spine of the story.

There’s plenty of story left for Charles in between where he is now and where we’ve seen him before. I hope he isn’t written off.

That’s what Matthew is talking about, he’s come up with a particularly interesting idea, last time I spoke with him. So he’s pitching that to Fox, and they’ve basically just got to write the script.

You can read the full interview here.

It’s good to know that Vaughn is interested in returning and is actively working on ideas. Over recent months it looked like Vaughn would be turning his attention to adapting Mark Millar’s comic books The Secret Service and Superior into movies, like he did with Kick-Ass, but the First Class sequel seems to be further in development than both of them.

It’ll also be interesting to see Xavier dealing with his new situation. They didn’t really have time to touch upon it at the end of First Class as the movie was wrapping up, so to explore how Xavier struggles and eventually accepts losing the ability in his legs will give McAvoy something to chew on as he edges close to Patrick Stewart’s Xavier. He’ll also need to lose his hair at some point, so I don’t think Charles will be having much fun in the next film.

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Jason Flemyng, who played teleporting mutant Azazel in X-Men: First Class, dropped a little nugget of information earlier today when he said work had already begun on the script for a sequel. SHH has obviously taken note, and through some detective work they’ve discovered that Simon Kinberg is currently working on the first draft.

Kinberg is very familiar with the X-Men world having co-written X-Men: The Last Stand and co-produced X-Men: First Class. If you’ve watched the First Class Blu-ray features you’ll know that Kinberg was the guy who first contacted Matthew Vaughn about potentially directing the film after seeing Kick-Ass, so he’s partially to blame for how great First Class turned out.

Matthew Vaughn isn’t confirmed to direct the sequel, but during promotion for the first film in June he said he’d be interested, and already has some ideas. More recently during promotion for the DVD/Blu-ray release producer Lauren Shuler Donner said getting Vaughn back was a priority, so if nothing complicates matters he’ll likely be back. Simon Kinberg will probably develop the story, ready for Vaughn and his writing partner Jane Goldman to work their magic on at a later stage.

Back in May Vaughn revealed his idea for the opening of the next film, saying “I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy Assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto. That would explain the physics of it, and we see that he’s pissed off because Kennedy took all the credit for saving the world and mutants weren’t even mentioned.” Magneto killing John F. Kennedy would have some major ramifications, and it’ll give Xavier a conversation start for when they next run into each other (or roll, in Xavier’s case).

All the actors are locked after signing multi-picture deals, so it’ll just be a case of planning ahead and informing them to leave a gap in their schedule. The Wolverine is currently planning to shoot next year for a 2013 release, so Fox may aim for a 2014 opening for the First Class sequel.

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20th Century Fox have yet to announce plans for an X-Men: First Class sequel, but it’s recent success on DVD and Blu-ray suggests there’s a good chance of one happening.

In a recent interview James McAvoy said he’d “be up for it” (although he is contractually obliged to make more), and thinks it should be “cleverer” than just reverting back to Xavier and his X-Men vs. Magneto’s Brotherhood.

From Total Film:

“I’ve spoken to Matthew [Vaughn] about ideas, but I can’t tell you what they are because they may or may not be the story. One thing I liked about our one was that it was different from the other three films where the X-Men are the good guys, Wolverine’s figuring out who he is and Magneto is the bad guy.

“This was a completely different thing. Magneto wasn’t a bad guy, we were friends. We’re now set up to go back to the way the other movies are, so we’ve got to try to be cleverer than that.”

Charles and Eric didn’t part ways on the best of terms, but you could see them sitting down for mutant/human-related discussion in the next film (Xavier doesn’t really have an option with the sitting bit). In X1 Xavier said Magneto helped him build Cerebro, and while Beast was the inventor in First Class they need to rebuild it at some point, and it’ll be hard to build that vast spherical room in Xavier’s basement without help from a metal manipulator.

While promoting the film in June McAvoy said he hopes Xavier “unlocks something in his head – maybe he can’t keep the voices out or something” and “his journey could be about getting himself out of a mess.” Matthew Vaughn also said as “Professor X is in a wheelchair, Magneto needs to have a nemesis he can fight with. Someone that will be his equal”, so we could be introduced to a powerful new villain.

Vaughn is currently developing a few movie projects with Kick-Ass comic writer Mark Millar, but I can see Fox aiming for a 2014 release for the sequel. If that’s the case we should start hearing things next year.

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X-Men: First Class will finally be hitting DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on October 31, and in preparation The Sun has released a new behind the scenes clip showing how Hugh Jackman’s hilarious cameo was filmed.

Watch using the player below (via CBM):

Initially I was against Wolverine having anything to do with X-Men: First Class as he’s already dominated the trilogy (at the expense of other characters) and he’s got his spin-offs, but the brief cameo was great. I don’t want Wolverine to have sort of presence in any future First Class sequels as they should focus on Xavier, Magneto, and the team, but I wouldn’t be against another cameo.

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2011 has been a good year for Rose Byrne. Insidious, with its budget of $1.5 million, made close to $100 million in April, Bridesmaids opened to great reviews and is now one of the top five r-rated comedies of all time, and X-Men: First Class sits comfortably at $350 million worldwide and is the best reviewed superhero movie of the year.

In a recent interview Byrne spoke about working on X-Men: First Class, and said she’s signed up for another two films.

From IGN:

IGN: X-Men: First Class was so well received, were there any conversations when you signed on about doing more of them?

Byrne: Yeah, we all had to sign on for three, I believe. Well, I did anyway. But as of right now I have no idea if they’re planning on doing another one. But that was the idea depending on how it all went, I suppose. We’ll see though. I loved working on it and loved working with the cast. I loved Matthew Vaughn. I also loved the style. The era and the fashion. And it was kind of kitsch-y and funny. It was a really fun and sophisticated superhero movie. I’m very proud of the film.

X-Men: First Class could have done better at the US box office ($145 million), but considering the competition this year, the fact Vaughn cast a bunch of upcoming talent instead of superstars, and the lack of Wolverine, it’s done pretty well. Hopefully enough for 20th Century Fox to consider a sequel, because the end of the film with Magneto left me wanting more.

As for Byrne’s character Moira MacTaggert, there will probably be more of her story on the DVD as deleted scenes. Vaughn thought developing a love story between Charles and Moira would be too much with all the other events going on, but we saw a bit of romance between them at the end of the film. That could follow through into the sequel, and we could see more of Moira’s work at the CIA and her helping the X-Men to remain hidden.

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Box office numbers for Matthew Vaughn’s (2D) X-Men: First Class are pouring in, and it looks set to make around $120 million worldwide during it’s opening weekend according to THR. While the actual numbers won’t be known until early next week, First Class managed roughly $56 million at the US box office and $64 million elsewhere from 74 territories.

While $56 million is a significant drop from X-Men Origins: Wolverine‘s $85.1 million two years ago, it met 20th Century Fox’s estimates and grossed similar to what the first X-Men film made in 2000. X-Men: First Class was always going to face an uphill battle following the poor reception of the last two movies in the franchise, and while the cast was full of upcoming talent, it was Hugh Jackman/Wolverine free for the first time in 11 years.

With a production budget of around $140 million, making $120 million worldwide during it’s opening means First Class should go on to be a success and warrant a sequel:

“The movie really excelled in successfully launching a brand new chapter in the X-Men franchise, or new beginning if you will,” Fox senior vice president of domestic distribution Chris Aronson said.

Reviews for the movie have been excellent, and it currently has a rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Word of mouth may help First Class gain some legs over the upcoming weeks, and the next major competition (Green Lantern) won’t hit until June 17th. Next week Paramount will release J.J Abram’s Super 8, but that’s expected to make only $20/30 million opening weekend.

It’s worth nothing that Batman Begins only made $48 million when it opened in 2005 but went on to make over $200 million in the US. Hopefully First Class can achieve something similar, because it was a damn good movie and the final scene left me wanting more.

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