Matthew Vaughn Not Directing X-Men: Days Of Future Past

In disappointing but not unexpected news (because we were all a bit surprised when he signed on in the first place) X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn has decided not to direct the sequel, X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Deadline reports that Bryan Singer (X-Men, X2) is top of the list of possible replacements.

Here’s something you won’t see happening on the X-Men: Days Of Future Past set

Apparently Vaughn has allegedly elected instead to concentrate on his adaptation of Secret Service, which, like Kick-Ass (which he also directed) is an adaptation of a Mark Millar comic.

Singer, who has been a guiding light on the X-Men movie franchise, since the beginning and was producer on First Class. Vaughn, who has written a draft of Days Of Future Past based on the script by Simon Kinberg, would still serve as producer on the sequel, alongside Kinberg and Lauren Shuler Donner. So, if this all goes ahead, Singer and Vaughn would effectively be swapping jobs.

Fox still hopes to make the 18 July 2014 release date it set for the sequel, but it will need to confirm a director quickly.

While details of why Vaughn has decided to back down are unclear, he has previous form in backing away from such projects, though in this case he’s made his mind up a bit earlier than his last-minute exit from X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner was given the unenviable task of putting the film together in time for the release date). He also briefly left X-Men: First Class before returning to complete the film. He’s also passed on the Kick-Ass sequel. Maybe he just doesn’t like sequels?

Bryan Singer is currently working on post production on Jack The Giant Slayer.

Meanwhile Fox has also confirmed that The Wolverine is not a prequel, but will take place after the events in X-Men: The Last Stand.

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