Producer Wants X-Men: First Class to be Franchise

By Jeff Olson
April 15, 2009
Source: Comics Continuum

The producer of all three X-Men movies, as well as the upcoming Wolverine spin-off, is interested in taking X-Men: First Class and making it a franchise. The producer’s name is Lauren Shuler Donner, and her hope for X-Men: First Class is to take the other students from Xavier’s school and give them their own movie. For those who don’t know, X-Men: First Class is a throwback to where the X-Men characters came from. According to Donner,”It is the first class of Xavier’s school, way back when, so it’s young Scott, young Jean, young Beast and that’ll be really fun. I think (the plan) is to follow some of the characters into their own stories, and weave them back into the X-Men world.”

She went on to say, “…hopefully First Class will become its own franchise and we can follow them as they grow up. X-Men: First Class is expected to inject a next-gen sensibility into the superhero series. – The studio has been leaning toward using the younger characters introduced in the previous films in future installments -teenagers with powers taught at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

The Marvel Comic of the same name, launched in 2006, and enlist such characters as Iceman, Rogue, Angel, Colossus, Jubilee and Shadowcat, who have appeared prominently or made cameos in prior movies.

Josh Schwartz (TV’s The O.C) had been hired to pen the script for this movie which hopes to find a new, younger audience to build a franchise around.

What do you think about X-Men: First Class? Is this too much X-Men to handle right now? I think a movie about some of the lesser known mutants would be really interesting especially for those who do not know much about the supporting characters. Leave your thoughts below and we will get back at ya!