Bryan Singer gives details on X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

After months of speculation it was announced yesterday that director Bryan Singer would be returning to the film franchise he launched by taking the helms of X-Men: First Class. The film will serve as a prequel to the first two films that Singer directed (the good ones) and the one Brett Rater did (the not so). Singer is said to have liked X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but c'mon, if the franchise didn't go to crap after he left I doubt him and Fox would be as aggressive with this project as they are.

Street Kings scribe Jamie Moss has been brought in to write the script from Singer's treatment and an original draft which was done by OC and Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz.

Singer told Variety that his return to the mutant world hinged on the ability to find a storyline that would stand on its own.

This is the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where there relationship took a wrong turn. There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from 'X-Men' will figure into the plot, though I don't want to say which ones. There will be a lot of new mutants and a great villain.

Much like J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot (minus the time travel), First Class will find the two main characters, Xavier and Magneto, as twentysomethings:

Whether it's 'Batman,' 'Lord of the Rings' or 'Star Trek,' if the characters are good, you want to see them on their journey even if you know their destiny. I put myself in the fan's position, and I think this story is something I would want to see, and so will they.

Fox has a bushel of other origin projects in development. The studio is separately developing an origin film on Magneto, Deadpool and a the Samurai themed sequel to Wolverine. Lauren Shuler Donner is producing all of these films, and from interviews she seems to have her head on straight and clearly sees the mistakes of X-Men: Last Stand and the first Wolverine and is doing everything she can to bring in the right people (or bring the right people back) to remedy.

My only wish with all these different origin films is that they keep some kind of continuity with the characters. Unlike the Marvel Studio films -- where they have the talented Mr. Craig Kyle keeping all the films inline with each other to build up to The Avengers movie -- the Fox owned Marvel properties don't seem like they will be as congruent, if at all. I guess some would argue that's a good thing. But just little questions in my mind like: with a Magneto origin film and First Class featuring him in his twenty's, will they be played by the same actor and with them being developed separately will they have anything to do with each other at all?

But as for the origin film at hand, I think Singer can make an X-Men film that we can actually get excited about. The only question is, when will he be able to do it?! It may be sooner than we anticipated! Though he is holding a deal with New Line for Jack The Giant Killer, and has Battlestar Galactica and Excalibur remakes in the works... he still doesn't have a fix for what his next movie will be. 

What do you guys think of Bryan Singer's plans for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS?