Director Singer and writer/producer Simon Kinberg spoke recently on the Empire Podcast recently about the X-Men movies and the current films, the cast and Wolverine, Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix and a solo movie for the character Mystique. Wait … what?
X-Men Apocalypse has been out now for just a couple of weeks and has already brought in over $280 Million US dollars. While reception on the movie has been decidedly mixed, the reviews have skewed strongly towards the favorable. It has encouraged Singer and Kinberg to begin discussing the future of the franchise. But with four of the stars of the currently motion picture now with expired contracts, the future remains fluid, unsure yet full of potential.
One of the options on the table is a solo movie starring Mystique, the blue- mutant portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence. For that to happen, however, would require re-negotiations and a brand new contract with the actress. Her current picture deal took her through 2011’s X-Men: First Class, 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past and expired with the currently in theaters franchise outing, X-Men: Apocalypse.
Jennifer Lawrence recently told Entertainment Weekly that she is not sure is she will return to the franchise. “I would love to come back. I love the fans and I love the character. But then you realize how important your year is, like how important three months out of your year is. I don’t know. I shouldn’t be that honest.”
But, Jennifer Lawrence of not, Director Bryan Singer is adamant that Raven – also known as Mystique – would be ideal for a solo movie to propel the franchise forward. “I think [Mystique’s] right for [a standalone movie], whether it’s Jennifer [Lawrence] or not,” he noted during the Podcast. He went on to say “Xavier can get into Cerebro and look at the world but he’d rather just teach classes and see the beauty of mutants and humans co-existing in his mansion in Westchester. Along comes Raven with a reality check on the state of the world. It opens up a lot of avenues.”
