James Mangold will return for The Wolverine sequel
The Wolverine made a solid $413m in worldwide box office sales this summer on a reported $120m budget. Returns like that practically guarantee sequels, and considering how popular and successful the Marvel superhero films have been, it's a bit of a no-brainer that a sequel to The Wolverine would happen. However, with X-Men: Days of Future Past set to release next May, the narrative fluidity of the prime X-Men films and the Wolverine spin-offs can be confusing.
Nevertheless, it's being reported that Mangold is in negotiations with 20th Century Fox to return for a sequel to The Wolverine. For his first superhero film, Mangold did fairly well, illustrating his directing flexibility and willingness to adapt his style for any genre. More news will sure come out once the deal has been confirmed.
[via Deadline]
[Trailer] The Wolverine
http://youtu.be/th1NTVIhUQU
As one of my Top 10 Summer Movies, The Wolverine has a lot to prove. In the wake of The Avengers' immense success from last year, it's going to be rough for the James Mangold-directed The Wolverine to meet such high expectations. It also doesn't help that its superhero film competitor for the season is Superman's return in Zach Snyder's Man of Steel.
With the latest trailer, though, it seems that The Wolverine is ready for the challenge. It sets the emotional tone of Wolverine's guilt over killing Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) in X-Men: The Last Stand and his weariness with his eternal life while also mixing in some solid action scenes. If the actual film can properly balance the emotional depth with great fight sequences, The Wolverine could be a great way to get audiences excited for the X-Men again.
Watch the new trailer below. I've also included some of the character posters from the film, including Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), Yukio (Rila Fukushima), and Silver Samurai (Will Yun Lee) below, as well. Remember, The Wolverine slashes its way to theaters July 26th.
