Why didn't Bryan Singer direct X3?

[Deja Q]

If it was meant to be a trilogy, vamoosing at this point - especially for a remake of "Superman" no less - is hardly the sign of good news.

The other two have a consistent feel and from what I'm reading, X3 has some big problems.

:shrug:

[Broken_Hero]

1. word around the campfire

is that Singer wanted to take his time with Xmen III, and the executives at Fox wanted X3 sooner, and there was some squabbling, and Singer took the Superman Returns job...

I'm glad, that he came to the superman returns camp, but man...I wish he could have done both...I'm sure xman fans could have waited another year, us superman freaks, haven't had a decent big screen superman movie since...superman II...in ...? 82 or so.

But of course, I could be totally wrong...its the rumor mill I hear...

[Bombtrack]

2. He proudly took X-Men "1 movie at a time" he never cared about a cohesive

trilogy much less actually adapting the best storylines from the comics or having some reminiscence of the team structure and acurate portrayles of character relationships (and no, I'm not talking about romances).

Singer made the movies for Singer. He was a Superman lifelong fan, he claimed to be an X-Men fan once he signed up for the movie.

Oh, and X-Men 3 isn't one tic worse than either previous X-movie. Better than the first. and I'm a huge fan of both of those movies, I'm just sick of the bullshit being thrown around here.

[Cannikin]

3. well I heard....Superman is Singers childhood fav. He jumped at the chance

to take on the next one, even if it meant leaving someone else to helm X-Men

[Ravenseye]

4. There are different stories

It sounds like it came down to the Fox executive wanting to make a 'tie it up and end it' movie with X3 which would be released in 2006, while Singer wanted to film X3 and X4 concurrently with X3 released in 2007 and X4 in 2008. Then he got offered the Superman job with basically full creative authority and jumped for the chance, rather than be under the heel of a shithead fox exec.

[Cannikin]

5. Here's an old article I found, Singer & Fox's divorce now official

August 6, 2004 - The Hollywood Reporter and Variety report that director Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox have officially parted company. The X-Men director recently agreed to helm Superman for rival Warner Brothers, despite his production company Bad Hat Harry having a two-year deal with Fox.

Although Fox and Singer had been in talks about him returning to direct X-Men 3, the deal was never sealed. It should be noted that X-Men 3 was not part of Singer's overall deal with Fox.

Variety adds that, for now, "who will direct X3 for Fox remains unclear, as does its potential start date. Insiders say Singer would be happy to be involved with the pic even if only as a producer, but the ball is in Fox's court."

[Blue_Tires]

6. it had to do with the superman movie, iirc

[Writer]

7. Terrible script. Terrible directing by the new director.

It's... watchable... I suppose. But the biggest issue with the movie is how gratuitously the director introduces characters without following through with developing them. I won't describe more, as it would be a spoiler.

[Hippo_Tron]

8. That's not a negative if you've read the comics or watched the cartoon

Dr. Hank McCoy, for example, has a very distinct personality that was spot on in the movie. No introduction is required if you're an X-men fan. Otherwise I can understand why introducing the new characters like they did could be a problem.

[SaveElmer]

9. X3 Was Great...just saw it...

Critics are off their rockers lately, giving mixed or bad reviews to both X-Men and Davinci...

I thought they were both first rate movies.

[Cannikin]

10. I saw it this morning. I thought it was great