Everything about X-men Film Series totally explained
The
X-Men film series currently consists of three
superhero films based on the
fictional Marvel Comics team of the same name. The films star an
ensemble cast, focusing on
Hugh Jackman as
Wolverine, as he's drawn into the conflict between
Professor Xavier and
Magneto, who have opposing views on humanity's relationship with
mutants: Xavier believes humanity and mutants can coexist, but Magneto believes a war is coming, and intends to fight. The films also developed subplots based on the comics'
Weapon X and
Dark Phoenix storylines.
20th Century Fox earned the film rights to the characters in 1994, and after numerous drafts,
Bryan Singer was hired to direct
X-Men for a
2000 release. Singer returned for the
2003 sequel
X2, but left a potential third and fourth film to direct
Superman Returns.
Brett Ratner directed for a
2006 release. Critics praised Singer's films for their dark, realistic tone, and subtexts dealing with
discrimination and
intolerance, but Ratner's film was met with mixed reviews. Nonetheless, each film outgrossed the last, and Fox is developing
spin-offs set before the three films. The
X-Men films are also attributed as leading to a reemergence of
superhero films in the 2000s, such as the
Spider-Man film series.
Films
X-Men
In 1994,
20th Century Fox and producer
Lauren Shuler Donner bought the film rights to the
X-Men.
Andrew Kevin Walker was hired to write, and
James Cameron expressed interest in directing.
Bryan Singer signed on to direct in July 1996. Though not a fan of the comic, he was fascinated by the analogies of prejudice and discrimination offered by it.
Ed Solomon,
Christopher McQuarrie and
David Hayter wrote the script, with Hayter receiving sole credit.
The first
X-Men film introduced
Wolverine and
Rogue into the conflict between
Professor Xavier's
X-Men, and the
Brotherhood of Mutants, led by
Magneto. Magneto intends to mutate world leaders at a
United Nations summit with a machine he's built, to bring about acceptance of mutantkind, but Xavier realizes this forced mutation will only result in their deaths.
X2
Fox hired
David Hayter and
Zak Penn to write their own scripts for the sequel which Singer would pick, with an aim to release the film in December 2002. The story was inspired by, though the character of Stryker was changed from a
reverend to a
general.
Michael Dougherty and
Dan Harris were hired to re-write the script in February 2002, writing around 26 drafts and 150 on set. Production began on
June 17 2002 in
Vancouver and wrapped by November, with the release moved to
May 1 2003. On
July 16 2004, he left to direct
Superman Returns, having only completed a third of a treatment focusing on Phoenix, and introducing
Emma Frost, a role intended for
Sigourney Weaver. In addition, Singer also wanted to showcase more characterizations of
Rogue,
Iceman and
Pyro.
Simon Kinberg and
Zak Penn were hired the following month, and a studio executive read
Joss Whedon's
Astonishing X-Men story "Gifted", featuring a mutant cure, suggested it be the primary story.
Matthew Vaughn came on board as director in February 2005, but left due to the rushed production schedule.
Brett Ratner took over in June, and filming began on
August 2 2005.
A pharmaceutical company has developed an antidote to the mutant gene, provoking controversy in the mutant community. Magneto declares war, and has his own weapon: the omnipotent telekinetic and telepathic
Phoenix, who is the resurrected former X-Man,
Jean Grey. Phoenix kills Xavier and
Cyclops, and
Wolverine must face being a core member of the X-Men.
Future
In August 2006, following the release of the third film, producer
Lauren Shuler Donner reported that renegotiations would be required to continue the primary film series. Newer cast members were signed, while the older cast members, including
Halle Berry,
Hugh Jackman,
Rebecca Romijn,
Famke Janssen, and
Anna Paquin, were not. Berry,
James Marsden, and
Patrick Stewart have expressed interest in returning, and
Bryan Singer was approached once more to direct, but he couldn't helm a large-scale project before making . However, as of July 2007, there was no script for a fourth film, and none was in the works. Later in the month, however, Kevin Feige, president of production in Marvel Studios said that another
X-Men film was possible. Donner admitted, "There is forty years worth of stories. I’ve always wanted to do
Days of Future Past and there are just really a lot of stories yet to be told."
Each
X-Men film was more expensive than the last, with larger salaries and more spectacular visual effects, so an
X-Men 4 is unlikely to be produced soon.
Twentieth Century Fox chose the "divide and conquer" route for the franchise with multiple
spin-offs, including
prequels focusing on
Wolverine and
Magneto, a film about the students at the
X-Mansion to be written by
Zak Penn, and director
David O. Russell expressed interest in a film about
Emma Frost.
Vinnie Jones, who played the
Juggernaut, has said he'd like to reprise his role in a spin-off, as he felt there was too little time in
The Last Stand to imbue the character with depth.
Penn said of his spin-off, "The original idea was to have me do a young X-Men spin-off. But someone came up with a pretty interesting idea which I can’t discuss [...] He came up with how to do a young X-Men movie, which isn't what you’d expect [...] If you agree to do one of the
X-Men movies, it could end up happening four or five years down the line, which is fine with me. It’s just not my focus right now." Penn compared the idea to . In May 2008,
Josh Schwartz joined the project.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Set seventeen years before
X-Men, the film will focus on Wolverine's violent past, and his early encounters with
William Stryker. The
Weapon X program and his interactions with other mutants will be explored, including his complex relationship with
Sabretooth/Victor Creed. In April 2007,
David S. Goyer was hired to direct. Turner said the script was set from 1939 to 1955, and it follows Magneto trying to survive in
Auschwitz. He meets Xavier, a soldier, during the liberation of the camp. He hunts down the Nazi war criminals that tortured him, and this lust for vengeance turns him and Xavier into enemies.
Lauren Shuler Donner stated that the film would need McKellen to anchor the story, which would take place in
flashbacks. and like
Wolverine, it may be shot in Australia. In April 2008, McKellen stated that he doubts that he'll return.
Beast might appear in the film.
Cast and characters
List indicator(s)
- Italics indicate a cameo.
- A dark grey cell indicates the character wasn't in the film.
Reception
Box office performance
| Film |
Release date |
Box office revenue |
Box office ranking |
Reference |
| Worldwide |
United States |
United States |
Outside U.S. |
Worldwide |
All time U.S. |
All time worldwide |
| X-Men |
August 2000 |
July 14 2000 |
$157,299,717 |
$138,950,336 |
$296,250,053 |
#139 |
#176 |
|
| X2 |
May 1 2003 |
May 2 2003 |
$214,949,694 |
$192,607,919 |
$407,557,613 |
#65 |
#86 |
|
| |
May 25 2006 |
May 26 2006 |
$234,362,462 |
$224,893,546 |
$459,256,008 |
#51 |
#65 |
|
| X-Men film series |
|
|
$606,611,873 |
$556,451,801 |
$1,163,063,674 |
|
|
|
Each of the films set opening records in the United States:
X-Men had the highest July opening yet, while
X2 and
X-Men: The Last Stand earned the fourth highest opening weekends yet. All of these records have since been surpassed.
X-Men: The Last Stand and
X2: X-Men United rank as the sixth and seventh most successful
superhero films, while
X-Men is the twelfth. The third, second and first films are the fourth, fifth and sixth most successful
Marvel Comics adaptations, as well as overall the sixth, seventh and fourteenth most successful comic book adaptations.
Critical reaction
| Film |
Rotten Tomatoes |
Metacritic |
Yahoo! Movies |
| Overall |
Cream of the Crop |
| X-Men |
79% (140 reviews) |
57% (28 reviews) |
64% (33 reviews) |
N/A |
| X2 |
87% (212 reviews) |
80% (35 reviews) |
68% (38 reviews) |
B (15 reviews) |
| |
57% (216 reviews) |
50% (38 reviews) |
58% (38 reviews) |
B- (15 reviews) |
Wesley Morris of the
Boston Globe praised the
X-Men films as "more than a cash-guzzling wham-bang Hollywood franchise... these three movies sport philosophy, ideas, a telethon-load of causes, and a highly elastic us-versus-them allegory." Morris praised
X-Men: The Last Stand for "put[ting] the heroes of a mighty summer blockbuster in a rare mortal position. Realism at this time of year? How unorthodox!"
Roger Ebert gave the films good reviews, but criticized them because "there are just plain too many mutants, and their powers are so various and ill-matched that it's hard to keep them all on the same canvas." Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle, criticized the films' themes, saying "The pretensions take the form of the central metaphor that compares mutants to people of extraordinary, groundbreaking talent. That metaphor is bogus... The vision at the heart of
X-Men - of a golden
Utopia in which humans live side by side with mutants - is absurd."
The first two films were highly praised due to their
cerebral tone, but when
Bryan Singer left many criticized his successor,
Brett Ratner. Colin Colvert of the
Star Tribune felt "Bryan Singer's sensitivity to [thediscrimination themes] made the first two
X-Men films surprisingly resonant and soulful for comic-based summer extravaganzas... Singer is adept at juggling large casts of three-dimensional characters, Ratner makes shallow, unimaginative bang-ups."
James Berardinelli felt, "
X-Men: The Last Stand isn't as taut or satisfying as
X-Men 2, but it's better constructed and better paced than the original
X-Men. The differences in quality between the three are minor, however; despite the change in directors, there seems to be a single vision." David Denby of
The New Yorker praised "the liquid beauty and the poetic fantasy of Singer’s work", but called Ratner's film "a crude synthesizer of comedy and action tropes."
The
X-Men films received good reviews from fans of the comic books, but there was criticism of the large cast, and the limited screentime for all of them. Richard George of
IGN praised the depictions of
Wolverine,
Professor X,
Magneto,
Jean Grey and
William Stryker, and was also pleased with the portrayals of
Mystique,
Beast and
Nightcrawler. However, George felt many of the younger X-Men characters, such as
Rogue and
Iceman, were "adjectiveless teenager[s]", and was disappointed by
Cyclops and
Storm's characterizations. He observed the filmmakers were "big fans of silent henchmen", due to the small roles of the various villainous mutants; such as
Lady Deathstrike. George felt that the success of
X-Men "paved the way for other hits like the
Spider-Man series,
Fantastic Four,
V for Vendetta and Singer's own adaptation of Superman."
Spider-Man director
Sam Raimi said he was a fan of the series, particularly Singer's films. Film historian
Kim Newman also tonally compared
Batman Begins to Singer's films.
Tie-in material
On
June 1 2000, Marvel published a comic book
prequel to
X-Men, entitled
X-Men: Beginnings, revealing the backstories of Magneto, Rogue and Wolverine. There was also an adaptation of the film. Marvel also released an adaptation of
X2, which also contained prequels detailing Nightcrawler's backstory and Wolverine's time searching for Alkali Lake.
Del Rey Books also published novelizations of the three films. The latter two were written by
Chris Claremont. In 2006, was released, which was set between
X2 and
X-Men: The Last Stand.
Further Information
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