Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier is being eyed to direct the upcoming X-Men movie for Marvel. Variety has reported that the studio is in early talks with Schrier after the critical success of the recent Thunderbolts*. The outlet says it is still early talks so don’t expect any official news anytime soon.
Schrier’s other credits include Robot & Frank, Paper Towns and episodes of Netflix’s Beef and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. The director wouldn’t be the first to be offered another big MCU movie after helming a solo film. Destin Daniel Cretton went from Shang-Chi to the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the Russo Brothers made Avengers: Infinity War after helming the second and third Captain America movies.
Could Screenwriter Michael Lesslie Be Taking On The X-Men Movie
Screenwriter Michael Lesslie, who recently penned The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is on scribe duties. No other details are known about the cast, plot, characters or when the film is expected to be released.
Disney have yet to mine the X-Men since Disney acquired the rights to the mutants in 2019 after buying 21st Century Fox. On the small screen, Marvel Studios produced the popular Disney+ animated series X-Men ’97. Numerous cast members from the original X-Men film franchise have been announced for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday including Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn and James Marsden.
Despite the lacklustre box office on Thunderbolts*, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger praised the Florence Pugh film. According to Deadline, Iger saw Thunderbolts* as the “first and best example” of Marvel’s new focus on quality over quantity. Despite the high critical praise and a promising opening weekend, the film only earned $380 million against a production budget of $180 million, officially flopping.
“We’ve also learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. Frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much. By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe it will result in better quality. I think the first and best example of that is Thunderbolts*.”
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