the Mind’s Chew Toy

Synopsis:

Set 17 years before X-Men (2000), this prequel focuses on Logan’s (Jackman) early encounters with Sabretooth, William Stryker and the Weapon X program that gave him his adamantium skeleton. Rumors also have the film including Vietnam flashbacks and a love interest for Logan, with possible appearances by The Blob and John Wraith.

Our Thoughts:

With X-Men 4 apparently on the back burner for the time being due to the prohibitive cost of bring back all those cast members, it looks like the next couple of years will focus on specific mutant, with Wolverine being the first one to test the waters, and Magneto following shortly behind.

As Wolverine was everybody’s favorite mutant in the first 3 X-Men films (and launched Hugh Jackman’s career into the stratosphere), this spinoff film seems a sure bet. With everyone still abuzz over the first X-Men films (whether you liked ‘em or you didn’t, you talked about ‘em), the buzz over another entry is already starting to build, despite the film’s release date being a year and a half away. If they can keep that buzz alive through strategic releases of movie photos, posters and trailers, this could be the first must-see movie of 2009.

Are there any drawbacks we forsee? Only one - over saturation. With 3 movies already under their belt, how long will moviiegoers keep flocking to see the X-Men? Definitely for a fourth and probably a fifth - but with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Magneto, a possible Wolverine sequel and a film about the students at the X-Mansion all supposedly in the works (not to mention a possible - if not probable - X-Men 4), the X-Men may become as much of a joke as the Rocky and Rambo movies were pre-2006.

But then again, with James Bond going for his 22nd film, Star Trek getting set for their 11th film and Harry Potter in the midst of 7 or 8 films, maybe the juggernaut that is the X-Men will keep rolling for years to come.