20th Century Fox has now released both Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse in theaters this year - and while the former was easily the more-successful of the two X-Men franchise installments overall, Apocalypse did well enough by itself (as far as the box office goes, anyway). Next up for the X-Men film series is the untitled Wolverine 3, a movie that will see Hugh Jackman play the eponymous mutant one final time (allegedly...) on the big screen. After that, there are a number of developing X-Men films waiting in the pipeline... just not any with a specific release date, at the moment.
There are, in fact, currently three X-Men spinoffs in the works: Deadpool director Tim Miller's as-yet untitled Deadpool 2, The Fault in Our Stars' helmsman Josh Boone's New Mutants film, and Gambit - a movie that Channing Tatum remains attached to headline, with Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) onboard to direct. In addition, Kinberg says he will soon set to work on the next main X-Men film, too.
Kinberg spoke to That Hashtag Show at the 2016 Saturn Awards and offered the following rough schedule for the upcoming X-Men franchise installments (spinoffs and/or sequels alike):
“The first thing up, we’re shooting the Wolverine movie right now and we start shooting Deadpool 2 at the beginning of next year, then I sit down and start writing the next of the mainline X-Men movies.”
The X-Men: Days of Future Past and Apocalypse screenwriter/producer also praised Boone's work on New Mutants, saying "[There's] a really good script and hoping to shoot that one real soon too.” Finally, when it comes to Gambit, Kinberg offered the following:
"We have a great script on that and hope to shoot that movie at the beginning of spring of next year.”
It was Kinberg who previously confirmed that New Mutants (like Deadpool 2) is on course to begin production in early 2017. Hence, it stands to reason that one of those two X-Men installments will be the one that takes the October 2017 date currently being staked out by Fox for an as-yet unidentified X-Men movie. The Deadpool sequel seems the more likely candidate to snag that Fall 2017 date, as it's going to be a more modestly-budgeted affair (like its predecessor) and should require less post-production time - meaning, it could feasibly make such a quick turn-around time between the start of filming and theatrical release. That's assuming that Fox doesn't push that October 2017 date back, anyway.
Gambit, meanwhile, has had its production start date pushed back multiple times now - but if Kinberg's latest comments are to be believed, the powers that be behind Tatum's X-Men spinoff finally have a script they're satisfied with now. A spring 2017 production start date should allow Gambit to make either the March or June 2018 date that Fox is claiming for an X-Men film (with New Mutants or Deadpool 2, presumably, taking the other). It also means that Liman can direct a different film during the second half of 2016 and still have time to then work on Gambit, thereafter.
As for the next mainline X-Men film that Kinberg is writing: it's expected that the movie (whatever it ends up being called) will take place largely in outer space and expand upon certain plot points/concepts that were established in Apocalypse. Longtime X-Men director Bryan Singer is "taking a break" from the franchise to go and make a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea film adaptation, but has also expressed interest in returning to the series to take the X-Men on such an "interstellar" adventure in the future. Whether or not that actually happens, though, that's another matter.
NEXT: Where X-Men: Apocalypse Leaves the X-Men
Wolverine 3 opens in U.S. theaters on March 3rd, 2017, followed by unannounced X-Men films on October 6th, 2017, March 2nd, 2018, and June 29th, 2018. X-Force is also in development.
Source: That Hashtag Show