2014 Movie Preview: #2 - X-Men: Days of Future Past

Release date: May 23

Plot summary: The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in "X-Men: Days of Future Past." The beloved characters from the original "X-Men" film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from "X-Men: First Class," in an epic battle that must change the past – to save our future.

My take: It is serendipitous that I review The Wolverine right before previewing this upcoming X-Men film given that events at the end of one set up this big blockbuster. This is looking like the end all to be all of X-Men movies. I am so excited to see how the casts of the two respective X-Men franchises coming together in this one epic film. From the reports we are hearing, it sounds like they have a ton of material and are needed to remove entire characters just to cut the film into a reasonable runtime. It's exciting to also see that Bryan Singer has come back to direct this since he's the one that started this franchise in the first place. My expectations for this one are really high, so I hope they do not disappoint.

Paquin some, lose some

From comingsoon.net:

There will be one less mutant in this summer’s highly anticipated X-Men: Days of Future Past, which combines the casts of the original X-Men trilogy with those of 2011′s First Class. Director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) has revealed to EW exclusively that a rescue sequence — shot early in the film’s production and featuring Magneto (Ian McKellen), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Rogue (Anna Paquin), and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) — has been cut from the final film. Sadly, this means that Rogue’s screen time has been significantly chopped down as well.

“Through the editing process, the sequence became extraneous,” explains Singer. “It’s a really good sequence and it will probably end up on the DVD so people can see it. But like many things in the editing process, it was an embarrassment of riches and it was just one of the things that had to go. Unfortunately, it was the one and only sequence Anna Paquin was in, the Rogue character was in. Even though she’s in the materials and part of the process of making the film, she won’t appear in it.”

Singer emphasizes that the decision had nothing to do with the Oscar-winning True Blood star, who was on set for only week of Days of Future Past, or with her performance. “She did a fantastic job,” says the director. “She was awesome in the sequence. She’s a brilliant actress. I would work with her in a heartbeat.”

Singer, who is still editing the film in advance of its release on May 23, 2014, has already broken the news to Paquin. “She completely understood,” he says. “It’s very disappointing, but she’s very professional and she knows that stuff happens, particularly with material you shoot early on in production. Films evolve.”

Bullet theory

In an interesting (and timely) bit of viral marketing, the people behind X-Men: Days of Future Past has created this video which reveals that Magneto was actually responsible for the Kennedy assassination. Check out the perplexing, yet well made video for yourself below.

Counting down the Days

Worlds are about to collide as the casts from the two X-Men franchises are about to come together in one epic movie. While the film, titled X-Men: Days of Future Past, won't come out until next year, we already have a first trailer. Check it out below.

Back to the Future

From movies.com

Once it was revealed that the sequel to X-Men: First Class would be an adaptation of the very popular story arc in the comics called X-Men: Days of Future Past, people immediately began speculating about how much this new, prequel franchise would integrate with the first X-Men trilogy. The comic's story involves two different timelines merging, which certainly opens up the possibility of characters and actors from Bryan Singer's films once again reprising their roles. And lo and behold, that's exactly what's happening.

Singer, who recently took over directing the project from First Class director Matthew Vaughn, confirmed today on Twitter that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were joining Days of Future Past as Professor X and Magneto. He also confirmed that James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult would be returning as well, which is pretty damned awesome news, if you ask us.

Of course this early on we don't know how much of the film will take place in the McAvoy/Fassbender past and the Stewart/McKellen future, but if the director of the film is comfortable announcing the veteran actors now, it's safe to say they're not just going to be cute little cameos. And all this timeline blending will surely also server as a clever way to address some of the continuity issues that our own John Gholson pointed out when First Class released.

So what say you, X-Men fans? Are you excited to see the new and old school on the big screen together? Who else from Singer's X-Men films do you hope shows up here?