The X-Men Spinoff "Wolverine," is Getting Its Own Spinoff!

[Brian Damage]

Fresh off the muscular performance of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" at the boxoffice, Fox has thrown into development a spinoff featuring Deadpool, the wise-cracking mercenary played in the film by Ryan Reynolds.

Reynolds is attached to reprise the character for what for now is simply being called "Deadpool." Lauren Shuler Donner and Marvel Studios would act as producers.

Deadpool is known as "the merc with a mouth," a character that under Reynolds lived up to his billing in "Wolverine" until the end, when the movie deviated from the comic book persona, imbuing him with several superpowers and sewing his mouth shut.

It is understood that Reynolds would regain the ability to mouth off, with the movie going back to the roots of the character known for his slapstick tone and propensity to break the fourth wall. The character also was disfigured in "Wolverine," though it's unclear at this time how much the studio would want to mess with Reynolds' handsome mug.

The project is out to writers.

Fox considered a "Deadpool" spinoff early in "Wolverine's" development process, which is why it cast Reynolds. The actor was brought back in the month before the movie's release to shoot one of two "Easter egg" scenes that appeared after the end credits. The scene showed Deadpool alive, though when last audiences saw him, he appeared to be dead.

UTA-repped Reynolds next stars opposite Sandra Bullock in Disney's romantic comedy "The Proposal."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i605e3e8798d54f48f94931da65c7b144

[JamesG]

Interesting to see how this will turn out...

I would have preferred a movie with Remy Lebeau/Gambit.

[Brian Damage]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003176.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Hugh Jackman has repeatedly told MTV News about his desire to bring the next “Wolverine” movie to Japan, but it looks some official confirmation is making the rounds now. After the actor told us just last week that he’d been discussing the Samurai storyline with screenwriters, Jackman seems to have taken the next step for a sequel.

Earlier today, Variety confirmed our previous Splash Page report that a sequel to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is indeed in the works, and that it will focus on the Japanese story arc that Jackman and fans have championed for years.

“There are so many areas of that Japanese story,” Jackman told MTV News in an exclusive interview. “I love the idea of this kind of anarchic character, the outsider, being in this world — I can see it aesthetically, too — full of honor and tradition and customs and someone who’s really anti-all of that, and trying to negotiate his way. The idea of the samurai, too — and the tradition there. It’s really great. In the comic book he gets his ass kicked by a couple of samurai — not even mutants. He’s shocked by that at first.”

When he spoke with us, the actor’s enthusiasm for the Japanese plotline was as infectious as the Legacy Virus — but unlike that deadly disease, we couldn’t get enough of his words. His unbridled excitement probably swayed the studio heads at 20th Century Fox, too — of course, it doesn’t hurt that the movie raked in an $87 million box office despite an online security breach, a deadly outbreak in Mexico City and a harsh rating in Sweden.

Heck, after all of that, we’d say that Jackman’s earned himself some clout — and a trip back to the big screen.

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/05/05/its-official-x-men-origins-wolverine-sequel-headed-to-japan/