This might be one of the lease surprising pieces of news we’re likely to get this week, but here it goes: director James Mangold is currently in talks to come back for the sequel to The Wolverine, with star Hugh Jackman in tow as usual. Are you shocked? Yeah, I thought not.
Despite mixed reviews, The Wolverine pulled in about $400 million worldwide, which was enough to justify another film featuring Jackman as the man with the adamantium claws. Mangold is in talks to return to direct and write the treatment for the film, so there will at least be a certain continuity between The Wolverine and its sequel. There’s no word on what the sequel will actually entail, but as long as it’s not as dire as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I think we’ll all be happy.
Mangold has a tendency to bounce around genres – from Kate & Leopold (featuring a very different Hugh Jackman) to 3:10 To Yuma and now The Wolverine – so it’s a unique decision if he comes back to direct the sequel. But really, how can he not? 20th Century Fox’s X-Men property is a cash cow and they’ll milk it until we’re all so sick of Wolverine that we just stop going, or Hugh Jackman gets too old to play the part.
I realize that I might not be the intended audience for these films, but even superhero aficionados have to be getting tired of seeing the same character featured in multiple movies. Wolverine was the center of attention for the original X-Men series, and has already received two stand-alone films. There must be other X-Men to focus on, right?
There will be no dearth of Wolverine or the X-Men any time soon, either. We still have X-Men: Days of Future Past to dread…I mean, look forward to, when it hits the cinemas next spring.
What do you think of Mangold and Jackman returning for The Wolverine sequel? Good idea, or would you prefer someone else at the helm?