Aronofsky's Wolverine film title announced (3/17/11--Aronofsky quits)

[Christopher]

There seems to be a reluctance to do anything interesting with titles these days. Andrew Niccol's making a film that used to have the clever title I'm.Mortal, but that title has been replaced with the incredibly dull, generic title Now.

On the other hand, at least Disney came to their senses and decided to call the Tron sequel Tron Legacy instead of the nonsensical, unpronounceable Tr2n.


In defense of Aronofsky's film title, though, it's based on a comics miniseries that was simply called Wolverine. And it does seem to be trying to pretend that X-Men Origins: Wolverine never happened. If that were the case, then it would've probably been fine just to call this film Wolverine, but as it was, they had to make a small concession to the reality that the former film did, in fact, exist.

[Captaindemotion]

Surprised they didn't go with 2ron.

Didn't know about the Nichols movie - I'm.mortal was indeed quite clever.

[Spaceman Spiff]

JoeZhang wrote:

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I don't think I've ever seen a comic where he's called 'The Wolverine'.

Beat me to it. I can't recall it ever happening, either. There are plenty of instances where "The" has preceded "Batman," but I've never seen it with Wolvie.

The only time I've heard it was in the first X-men movie, though I suppose that's enough for this one, continuity-wise.

[Admiral_Young]

Titles aren't really a big deal, just something for fans to quibble and debate until the film's first footage becomes available.

[T'Baio]

I'm positive he's referred to as "The" Wolverine in his first appearance and if not that, the first few appearances somewhere.

And I could have sworn I've seen him called that quite a bit before, too. But I haven't really read the comics in years, so I'm probably wrong. I definitely defer to Spiff's wisdom.

[Captaindemotion]

^ He was indeed called The Wolverine in his first appearance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inchulk181.jpg

[Spaceman Spiff]

Sure, maybe in his first few appearances, but his claws were part of his gloves in those early appearances, too.

[Admiral_Young]

I know that I would much rather have "The Wolverine" as the title of the movie over something like "X-Men Origins: Wolverine II" or something like that. Incidentally I don't think we'll have to worry about that X-Men Origins title any more since Fox has scrapped "X-Men Origins: Magneto" since the bulk of that story has been incorporated into "X-Men: First Class".

[T'Baio]

And now that they're continuing X-Men with First Class, they don't need to include "X-Men" into the title of anything else for contractual reasons.

[exodus]

JoeZhang wrote:

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I don't think I've ever seen a comic where he's called 'The Wolverine'.

I don't know about the comics but it does tie into the first X-Men film. In the cage match when we first see him the announcer refers to him as "The Wolverine".

[Captaindemotion]

T'Baio wrote:

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And now that they're continuing X-Men with First Class, they don't need to include "X-Men" into the title of anything else for contractual reasons.

Yeah, the whole plan for X-Men Origins: Wolverine/ Magneto etc died a death, didn't it? Thankfully.

Perhaps this should be called Wolverine: Fifth Class?

[JacksonArcher]

Darren Aronosfky signs a two-year development deal with 20th Century Fox. Aronosfky's last film The Wrestler was distributed through Fox Searchlight in 2008 and Black Swan will also be distributed through that label when it opens December 3rd, 2010. The Wolverine will be the first film to be produced under Aronosfky's new deal with 20th Century Fox, who will also distribute that film. It starts shooting April 2011 in New York City before moving to Japan later during filming.

Fox Filmed Entertainment has signed Darren Aronofsky and his production company Protozoa Pictures to a new two-year, overall deal, it was announced today. Under the deal, Protozoa will develop and produce films for both Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Aronofsky's debut picture under the pact will be The Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman. Written by Oscar-winner Christopher McQuarrie, the film is scheduled to begin production in April next year.

The deal solidifies Fox's relationship with Aronofsky, whose recent films – this fall's critically acclaimed psychological thriller, Black Swan, was produced and distributed by Fox Searchlight, which also distributed Aronofsky's 2008 award-winning film The Wrester. Black Swan opened this year’s Venice Film Festival, and has since screened at such major festivals as Telluride, Toronto and London to great acclaim. The film arrives in theaters beginning December 3rd.

"Darren's vision has brought audiences some of the most original and memorable stories and characters in recent motion picture history," said Fox Searchlight heads, Steve Gilula and Nancy Utley. "We at Fox witnessed this first hand with his work on 'The Wrestler,' and 'Black Swan,' and now, on 'The Wolverine,' which will be an exciting take on that iconic figure and on the genre itself. We can't wait to see what else Darren has in store for us."

Added Emma Watts, president of production, Twentieth Century Fox: "We're excited Darren is going to bring his unique vision to 'The Wolverine' and we take great satisfaction that Fox, irrespective of the size of his films, continues to provide a home for his extraordinary talent."

Interesting to note that prior to Bryan Singer's departure from X-Men 3, he had also signed a two-year development deal that at the time included him directing X-Men 3 as well as producing the Fox TV show House. After Singer left X-Men 3 and 20th Century Fox to direct Superman Returns for Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox succinctly terminated their development deal.

Singer of course is now back in good graces with 20th Century Fox and is currently producing X-Men: First Class for the studio. At one point, I thought 20th Century Fox was a miserable studio that continually produced garbage and drove talented filmmakers away like the aforementioned Bryan Singer and Alex Proyas (who said after directing I, Robot that he would never direct another movie for 20th Century Fox again unless of a regime change). Now they're bringing in high class talent like Bryan Singer, Matthew Vaughn and now Darren Aronosfky.

It seems like something has changed.

[T'Baio]

I wonder what the condition of Rothman's tenure is right now?

Hopefully...on the way out.

With a kick in the ass.

And a bullet in the brainpan.

[The Borgified Corpse]

^Squish.

[T'Baio]