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FOX gives Singer the Boot! - Enchantress - 08-07-2004
In the wake of Bryan Singer's agreement with Warner Bros. to direct the new SUPERMAN movie, 20th Century Fox has abruptly terminated its two-year development deal with the X-MEN director and his Bat Hat Harry production company. Fox was still in the first year of its contract with Singer and it did not include the X-MEN films under its terms.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Singer had been eager to negotiate a contract with Fox to direct the third X-MEN movie. He had been conducting talks with Fox for months and eventually a new deal had been tentatively agreed upon by both parties. Just as things looked good for THE USUAL SUSPECTS helmer to sign a contract to direct X3, the opportunity arose for Singer to work with Warners and direct SUPERMAN. Singer lept at the chance and a contract was signed between the two parties within days of the job being offered. Fox, still believing it had a deal with Singer all but signed, learned they had lost the director of their superhero franchise to a competitor when the news first broke online at Ain't It Cool News one Friday night last month. The news became official when it was reported in the trades the following week.
Unlike the Fox deal, Warners was interested in hiring Singer on a pay-or-play agreement, meaning that even if the movie didn't happen Singer would still be guaranteed of getting a check from Warner Bros. (a similar event happened when Tim Burton's SUPERMAN movie failed to materialize.)
The departure of Singer from X-MEN 3 has left 20th Century Fox somewhere between a rock and a hard place. If they hope to still make their May 2006 release date for X3, a writer and director will have to be selected shortly and new contracts with the stars that have appeared in the first two X-MEN movies will have to be brokered. With Singer's development deal at Fox now dead, the studio may be sending an unwritten message that there's now bad blood between the two and they don't want anything to do with the man that developed their latest franchise.