Movies: 'X-Men' franchise mutates into a pack of solo films
The X-Men mutants plan to divide and conquer.
After last weekend's four-day, $122.9 million debut of X-Men: The Last Stand, the third film in the Marvel Comics series, producers are devising ways to launch some characters into their own franchises.
The first spinoff will be Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. His character has an as-yet-unrevealed back story in which researchers replaced his original bones with a metal skeleton. Jackman has signed on to star and co-produce, and X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner says it will likely head into production next year.
"We've also talked about doing something on the kids in (Professor X's) school, focusing on their lives, and less of a global adventure for the team," says Hutch Parker, production president of 20th Century Fox.
The studio is also exploring a movie with Three Kings director David O. Russell based on the character of Emma Frost, a sexy mutant telepath who can transform her skin into diamonds. She is an X-Men comics regular but was not featured in the movies.
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