‘The Wolverine’ Is Not A Sequel To ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’
If you didn’t know by now, filming has begun on The Wolverine, and details are starting to leak out in small bits. The movie is set to follow Frank Miller and Chris Claremont’s legendary story arc in Japan. But this has many fans worried still due to the horrendous storyline and over abundance of characters that were seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Hugh Jackman has however made numerous statements that make it seems that, just like many of us, wants to forget the last film. And now it appears that the film will be more of a reboot and less of a sequel. In a recent interview with Total Film Magazine Jackman stated the following:
“We’ve deliberately not called it Wolverine 2 because we want it to be placed and feel like a standalone picture. With an all-new cast and setting it in Japan, it’s going to give us a whole new visual aesthetic. The approach to character means we won’t be overloaded with mutants and teams and the like, so it’ll be more character-based. I think in many ways it will feel like a completely different X-Men film.”
It’s a pretty smart move to keep the title as being The Wolverine (which was actually Darren Aronofsky’s decision) to separate itself as much as possible from the previous film. And the fact that the film will not be crammed full of unnecessary characters is also good news being that some of the previous X-films have definitely suffered due to an abundance of extra characters leading to what felt like a half-assed pieced together story.
For awhile it almost seemed like this movie would never see the light of day. Especially so after Aronofsky walked away from the project. Jackman even admits that he was worried about it never happening.
“I’m just really glad it’s happening. For a while it’s felt like a rocky ride. I think it’s the best idea we’ve had, the strongest script we’ve had and that now we really have an opportunity to make something really great. I’ve been waiting for it so long now. I think half the material in my one-man show is about the wait for The Wolverine!”
I was a little more excited myself to see what Aronofsky would have done with the character than Mangold but this news does give us a little sigh of relief. Hopefully they can pull this off and re-vitalize the franchise like First Class did.
The Wolverine claws its way into theaters on July 26, 2013.
Source: Total Film [via CoventryTelegraph]
