Contracts can be a tricky thing. Take Jennifer Lawrence, for example. She signed her contract for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS that included an option for potential sequels well before she signed her contract for the smash success that the THE HUNGER GAMES franchise has become. What this means, as mentioned briefly yesterday, is that in a conflict of scheduling interest between studios, the one with which she signed a contract first would win out.
Meaning there was the chance that Fox, which wants very much to get its sequel to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS going, could simply say “no, you can’t film CATCHING FIRE, we want you for our sequel.” It’s one thing to recast a co-star (see IRON MAN II and the like) – it’s quite another to have to recast the star of your franchise. And Lionsgate has already publicized the release date for CATCHING FIRE as being Thanksgiving Weekend 2013, so if if Fox shot in the fall and CATCHING FIRE kept Jennifer Lawrence Lionsgate would have actually been in the same boat as X-MEN: FIRST CLASS by having less than a year to shoot and do post production work.
But, due whatever backroom wrangling and deal making went down, word is now that “Fox is informing talent agencies… that the studio plans to begin shooting its in-development sequel to X-Men: First Class in January.” Which in turn means that Lawrence’s schedule can now accomodate both a FIRST CLASS sequel and CATCHING FIRE, so everyone wins! My question is what this portends for when Fox intends to release their sequel to what was far and away my third favorite superhero movie ever made – would they give it a year and half to shoot this time and aim for late spring of 2014?
Let us know what you think below!