Movie News (11/21/2008): Thanks to our fellow movie tipster Ryan, we get news that completely makes no sense in my mind but I’m sure makes sense in the minds of Hollywood…it seems that the creator of “The O.C.” and “The Gossip Girl”, Josh Schwartz, has been chosen to write and possibly direct 20th Century Fox’s younger X-Men movie X-Men: First Class. That’s right, you read it correctly, the guy who specializes in teen drama has been chosen to pen an X-Men movie.
I don’t know what to expect from this announcement, but I am deeply saddened. It was bad enough that we closed off the X-Men franchise with that Brett Ratner disaster that didn’t have anything to do with any Marvel comic, but now we have a teeny X-Men in the making? Rumors have already circulated about which characters are going to be involved and names that have been popping up include Iceman, Rogue, Angel, Colossus, Jubilee and Shadowcat, all who had cameos or appeared prominently in other pics.
Comic Book guys, please sound off about this. What are you thinking? Have you started writing the letters to Marvel yet for them to buy back the franchise??
Related posts:
Ryan
Ok, here’s the deal. I just started reading X-Men: First Class. Let me tell you about it…
Basically, it’s a modern day re-imagining of the original X-Men: Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Marvel Girl (Jean Grey). This is Beast before the blue fur. And they are all probably 14-21.
And the book itself is a little campy.
I like the concept (though I would like it to be a little less kitsch). Putting it on the big screen – cool – but stick with the characters established in the book. That’s what drew me to it to begin with, there aren’t a thousand different characters. It’s simple.
So, I think that it could be good, even given the creator, so long as it stays true to form.
November 21, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Dan
What form does it need to stick to? Just the characters, or is there a certain story arch that flows throughout the whole comic? If the source material is already campy to begin with, I can’t imagine how much more campy it will become with a campy-teeny-bopper-drama creator behind the wheel.
November 21, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Ryan
I”m only on issue 4. So far no story arc. Keep it simple. That’s all that I ask.
November 21, 2008 at 4:41 pm
johnny thunders
of course it’s campy, it’s a kid’s book. it’s written for kid’s so they’ll have something to read since x-men isn’t really a kids book.
and i think it’s interesting that you left off the credit that most qualifies him for this job. schwartz is also the creator of chuck, which is a really fun show with great action sequences. based on that, i think he could do a great movie along those lines.
the question is really whether they are going to stick to movie continuity or not. because if they do, the first class would have to be cyclops, beast, jean grey, and storm.
unless they set in modern x-men movie continuity and just have it be a team of the younger mutants.
November 22, 2008 at 9:46 am
Ryan
I think that you’ve hit on my real beef which is (and will always be) continuity. You just can’t mix and match the characters that were older in the first movie and younger in the 3rd and set them all as the same age.
But, I’m learning to accept Comic book dis-continuity (thanks to Batman series).
November 22, 2008 at 9:53 am
Dan
johnny, that’s a good point and thanks for the Chuck reference, I didn’t know he did that show. That changes my outlook considerably because I actually like that show a lot. It’s one of the few shows that I still like from last season, though its numbers have dropped.
November 22, 2008 at 1:14 pm