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Marvel Movie Bracket Game: X-Men Vs X-Men 2
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tmc...@gmail.com
Apr 30, 2015, 2:40:32 AM4/30/15
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http://lebeauleblog.com/2015/04/29/marvel-movie-bracket-game-x-men-vs-x-men-2/
Today we continue matching up origin movies against sequels. This time it's Bryan Singer's original super-team movie, X-Men vs. it's follow-up, X-Men 2: X-Men United. The subtitle "X-Men United" was a creation of marketing. Singer hated it. Especially when the movie was marketed as X2: X-Men United. So from here on out, I'm sticking with X-Men 2.
Like Spider-man, the X-Men spent a lot of time in development limbo. In the 80's, James Cameron was involved in a treatment that would have been directed by Katherine Bigelow. Michael Biehn was in consideration for Cyclops, Bob Hoskins for Wolverine and Angela Basset for Storm. But Cameron ditched the project in favor of his unproduced Spider-man film.
The script went through several re-writes including one by future Avengers auteur, Joss Whedon. Future X-Men: Last Stand director Brett Ratner was considered for the project. Robert Rodriguez was offered the job but turned it down. Bryan Singer passed on X-Men three times before he finally read the comics and changed his mind. Like most of Hollywood post-Batman and Robin, he thought superhero movies were beneath him.
Hugh Jackman's Wolverine has been a key character in the entire X-Men franchise. But Jackman was a last-minute replacement. Russell Crowe was Singer's first choice to play the part. Crowe passed but recommended Jackman. Singer cast Dougray Scott instead. But Scott had to drop out due to conflicts with Mission Impossible 2. So Jackman was added to the cast three weeks into filming.
It may not seem like it now, but the first X-Men movie was a gamble. There had never been a movie about a team of superheroes before. The model was solo movies like Superman and Batman. Many doubted that you could do a movie with that many characters.
After the success of Blade, Marvel was banking on X-men to spark interest in their other properties. Fortunately, the gamble paid off. X-Men received mostly positive reviews and was the 9th highest grossing movie of 2000. That meant a sequel was inevitable.
In 2003, Singer and his cast returned for X-Men 2. The first movie was tasked with introducing a lot of concepts and characters. By the time all the exposition was out of the way, the movie was 2/3rds over. In the sequel, Singer had room (and a budget) to cut loose. Reviews were even better for the sequel than they were for the first film and the movie was a box office smash.
Unfortunately, the success of the first two X-Men movies lead to Warner Brothers poaching the director for Superman Returns. Brett Ratner was brought in as a replacement to direct the third X-Men movie, X-Men: Last Stand. That movie was a hit, but it was not well-liked by fans or critics. It seemed like it would end the X-Men franchise at least in terms of team movies. But we'll get into that more tomorrow.
Today we continue matching up origin movies against sequels. This time it's Bryan Singer's original super-team movie, X-Men vs. it's follow-up, X-Men 2: X-Men United. The subtitle "X-Men United" was a creation of marketing. Singer hated it. Especially when the movie was marketed as X2: X-Men United. So from here on out, I'm sticking with X-Men 2.
Like Spider-man, the X-Men spent a lot of time in development limbo. In the 80's, James Cameron was involved in a treatment that would have been directed by Katherine Bigelow. Michael Biehn was in consideration for Cyclops, Bob Hoskins for Wolverine and Angela Basset for Storm. But Cameron ditched the project in favor of his unproduced Spider-man film.
The script went through several re-writes including one by future Avengers auteur, Joss Whedon. Future X-Men: Last Stand director Brett Ratner was considered for the project. Robert Rodriguez was offered the job but turned it down. Bryan Singer passed on X-Men three times before he finally read the comics and changed his mind. Like most of Hollywood post-Batman and Robin, he thought superhero movies were beneath him.
Hugh Jackman's Wolverine has been a key character in the entire X-Men franchise. But Jackman was a last-minute replacement. Russell Crowe was Singer's first choice to play the part. Crowe passed but recommended Jackman. Singer cast Dougray Scott instead. But Scott had to drop out due to conflicts with Mission Impossible 2. So Jackman was added to the cast three weeks into filming.
It may not seem like it now, but the first X-Men movie was a gamble. There had never been a movie about a team of superheroes before. The model was solo movies like Superman and Batman. Many doubted that you could do a movie with that many characters.
After the success of Blade, Marvel was banking on X-men to spark interest in their other properties. Fortunately, the gamble paid off. X-Men received mostly positive reviews and was the 9th highest grossing movie of 2000. That meant a sequel was inevitable.
In 2003, Singer and his cast returned for X-Men 2. The first movie was tasked with introducing a lot of concepts and characters. By the time all the exposition was out of the way, the movie was 2/3rds over. In the sequel, Singer had room (and a budget) to cut loose. Reviews were even better for the sequel than they were for the first film and the movie was a box office smash.
Unfortunately, the success of the first two X-Men movies lead to Warner Brothers poaching the director for Superman Returns. Brett Ratner was brought in as a replacement to direct the third X-Men movie, X-Men: Last Stand. That movie was a hit, but it was not well-liked by fans or critics. It seemed like it would end the X-Men franchise at least in terms of team movies. But we'll get into that more tomorrow.
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