'Wolverine' Sequel Shooting Next January

Next January, Wolverine will be turning Japanese. In an ironic twist, Roger Friedman, the former Fox News entertainment journalist who watched the illegal download of X-Men Origins: Wolverine last summer and lost his job over it, is the first to report that Wolverine 2 will begin filming early next year. “It’s a beautiful story,” a source tells Friedman of Christopher McQuarrie's just completed script, “and will be very different than the first film.” That's a good point of emphasis to make, because the story for Wolverine was a pretty major problem. Way too many characters, all of whom Fox is/was trying to establish for spin-offs down the road. If you've followed the comic, you know this is from the Wolverine storyline co-created by Frank Miller, and it's one of the best uses of the character. Realistically, Fox should have started with that. Nobody needs an origin story for a character who already had one. But now, maybe, the course will be corrected. A lot of that depends on the director. Gavin Hood was a bad fit for the material the first time around, in part because he didn't show that he had a handle on that much going on in a movie. I expect Wolverine 2 to be a little smaller - i.e. skipping three villains, a love interest, and multiple sub-heroes - and that could open the door for a more character-driven action filmmaker. That kind of movie, something in a Casino Royale, is a much better way to go. But Wolverine is two up and two down at this point, so this fifth film has to be an improvement or it's three lame movies in a row. And that would probably seal the fate of one of the coolest comic book characters around. Until Disney decides to bring him back three years later.

Comments

[Vince]

My best friend will squeal with glee when she hears that Hugh Jackman will most likely be shirtless on-screen with adamantium claws again.

Me, I'd watch another one. The last movie was so cliched and dumb that it somehow worked as a brainless action movie. Plus this one's in Japan. Japan. Just like Tokyo Drift ! DUDE, YES! Now I'm super-excited. If this movie's half as amazing as Tokyo Drift , it'll be the most awesome thing ever.