After the release ofX-Men: Apocalypsethis summer, 20th Century Fox hasn’t said much about the future of theX-Men franchise. We know the studio is developing a number of spin-offs such asThe New Mutants,X-ForceandGambit, not to mentionDeadpool 2, while it is also believed thatBryan Singeris coming back to direct a newX-Menfilm that is set in the 1990s, which will follow the new timeline set forth inX-Men: Days of Future Past, set in the 1970s, and this year’sX-Men: Apocalypse, set in the 1980s. Today we have word that 20th Century Fox has opened production offices in Montreal for a newX-Menfilm, but we don’t know exactly which one it is.
Journal de Montrealreveals that 20th Century Fox is returning to Montreal for this unspecified film, after shooting in the Canadian city forX-Men: Days of Future PastandX-Men: Apocalypse. The site spoke with the president of MELS Studios,Michel Trudel, who confirmed that this mysterious proudction will be shot in Montreal over the course of several months. Here’s what he had to say in a statement, revealing that 20th Century Fox was also exploring other location options before deciding on Montreal for this newX-Men movie.
“They will start shooting in May and they will occupy Studios 2 and 3 of MELS for several months. We had two and a half months of negotiations with the people of Fox explains Michel Trudel. I went to Los Angeles last October to try to convince them. We are very pleased that they have agreed to return to Montreal. They enjoyed their two previous shooting experience with us and they were very satisfied with our facilities and talent of the Quebec film industry.”
It’s also worth noting that this project very well could be theGambit spin-off, since producerSimon Kinbergrevealed this July that they plan on shooting that movie in the spring of 2017. This would also make sense sinceGambitis seemingly the farthest along in the development process, withChanning Tatumset to play the title character. However, just a month afterSimon Kinbergsaid shooting would begin this spring, directorDoug Limandropped out, and there haven’t been any updates onGambitsince then.
However, it has been reported thatThe New Mutantsis also aiming for a spring 2017 shoot, with writer-directorJosh Boone(The Fault In Our Stars,The Stand) at the helm. No cast members have been confirmed yet, although the director teased in an Instagram post this spring thatThe New Mutantswould include characters such as Magik,Wolfsbane, Dani Moonstar, Cannonball, Sunspot and Warlock. There have also been reports thatGame of ThronesstarMaisie Williamswill play Wolfsbane, a.k.a. Rahne Sinclair, withThe WitchstarAnya Taylor-Joyreportedly signing on to play Magik, a.k.a. Illya Rasputin, the younger sister of Colossus. That report also claimed thatX-Men: ApocalypsestarAlexandra Shippwill return as Storm, withSophie Turner(Jean Grey),Tye Sheridan(Cyclops) andKodi Smit-McPhee(Nightcrawler) also being eyed to return.
As forX-Men 7, an unconfirmed report surfaced last month that claimed this project would reboot the iconicDark Phoenix saga, which was told through the originalX-Mentrilogy. The events at the end ofX-Men: Days of Future Pastessentially erased the timeline of the original trilogy, and started a new timeline, so it would make sense to reboot this story with the younger actors fromX-Men: Days of Future PastandX-Men: Apocalypse. While the Dark Phoenix reboot story has not yet been confirmed, this latest report was the second time this year rumors of the Dark Phoenix reboot have surfaced.
