With The Hunger Games still clearly ruling the worldwide box office, it looked as if plans to film its sequel (Catching Fire) could have interfered with the scheduled shoot for the upcoming X-Men: First Class sequel (given that The Hunger Games’ star, Jennifer Lawrence, plays quite an important member of the X-Men world; Mystique), yet 20th Century Fox have now moved the X-Men start date to accommodate for Catching Fire’s schedule.
While Lionsgate (who own the rights to The Hunger Games franchise) and Fox had apparently been at odds for sometime about their respective schedules; as Fox had first-dibs (not the exact legal terminology they used) on using Jennifer Lawrence, but Lionsgate are extremely keen to capitalize on The Hunger Games’ success, and both wanted to start filming this autumn; Fox have now agreed to delay the start of the X-Men: First Class sequel so that Lawrence can easily slip into both roles.
Matthew Vaughn will be returning as the director of the new X-Men prequel movie which will hopefully bring back most of the principal cast (including James McAvoy as Professor Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Magneto) when it finally starts shooting next January; after work on Catching Fire (which according to current rumours, and potential pay disputes, may or may not bring back director Gary Ross) is completed this fall, ahead of its November 2013 release date.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter.
