Preface

• Now I’m sad…
• (This story started off just as Jackman’s departure, but evolved into so much more…)

Premise

• I actually heard about this story before a lot of the major news outlets began covering it.
  • I Like Hugh Jackman’s Facebook page (because he’s my favorite actor in Hollywood currently, and ya know, I enjoy seeing pictures of him with his dog) and I saw a post of his about 5 minutes after it came out.
• Today, Hugh Jackman posted (on both his Facebook and Instagram) a picture of his hands, one with the Wolverine claws, and the caption: ..ONE LAST TIME.
• And I wanted to talk about it, because I’m sad!
• (Here’s the picture he posted.)

Franchising

• What I’ve been noticing recently is that everything is a franchise.
• Marvel has their shared universe, awesome.
• Star Wars has their new shared galaxy, rad.
• Even the X-Men have expanded into spin-offs, prequels, and offshoots, which work well judging by how many characters there are.
• But there are so many franchises now, stars are being signed on for multi-picture deals, and the end of those deals aren’t something that studios actively think about.
• This leads me into the Hugh Jackman news.

Jackman’s Departure

• We all knew that Hugh Jackman would leave X-Men eventually. I thought he would stay on at least until 2020 and get a full 20 years out of the franchise, but I s’ppose 17 is great too.
• And I think it’s great that he’s moving on actually.
• Of course I would have loved for him to keep playing Logan until the day he died, but this has been a long time coming.
  • I even heard a rumor that they were supposed to introduce the new Wolverine actor in Days of Future Past, but I’m pretty glad they didn’t.
• Ultimately, the fact that Hugh Jackman is leaving the X-Men franchise is great for him.
  • Prisoners was off the charts incredible, Les Mis was really good, Night at the Museum 3 was really good.
  • Last one was a little off, but point is: the guy is making Oscar-caliber movies, and he should have a few on his shelf before his career is up. So yeah, make some more great quality movies that aren’t X-Men, and rock on!
• But my problem and concern isn’t so much that Jackman is leaving the franchise, so much I question where the franchise is going.

Future of the X-Men

• Click here to see my Top 10 of 2014, skip to Number 1 to see my thoughts on X-Men: Days of Future Past.
• I loved Days of Future Past. A lot.
  • I went into it having only seen the first X-Men and was blown away. Since then, I went back and watched the whole franchise, and was impressed by almost all of them…
• But here’s how much I loved First Class and Days of Future Past.
  • If X-Men: Apocalypse is GREAT.
    • Not good, not really good, not even great.
    • If X-Men: Apocalypse is GREAT, drop-dead phenomenal. As good as FC and DOFP.
    • If it’s a 5/5, then the X-Men Prequel Trilogy will surpass The Dark Knight Trilogy as my favorite superhero saga.
  • Yeah, that good.
• Here’s the main deal:
  • Fact is: First Class wasn’t an X-Men movie, it was a training film about seeing what your real potential is. It mixes this with themes of revenge and what it means to be a friend.
  • Fact is: Days of Future Past wasn’t an X-Men movie, it was a beautiful story about what it means to be yourself, and how anything that happens to you is always in your hands, and however big the world may seem, it’s always the little things that count. It has themes of friendship, betrayal, and as cheesy as it sounds, hope. Every time I see Days of Future Past I love it more and more, and once May 23^rd, the one year anniversary of its release, hits I’ll have no problem ranking it somewhere in my Top 15 Favorite Films of All Time.
    • There were murmurs of Captain America: The Winter Soldier being pushed for a Best Picture nomination last year, but Days of Future Past was the ‘superhero’ movie to get the nominations for.
  • My point in re-explaining the love I have for those two is this: every movie series needs to end.
    • There was a conclusion to the original trilogy, there will be a conclusion to the prequel trilogy, and there will be a conclusion to the Wolverine trilogy.
  • X-Men has gone on for so long, and it seemed like they were continuing in the right direction.
  • You got James McAvoy who was Oscar-worthy in Days of Future Past, and probably my favorite performance from an Actor last year.
  • You got Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence who are Academy Award nominated and winning actors.
  • As well as Nicholas Hoult and a whole team of newcomers who are seemingly gonna take the franchise over.
  • If that was the case, I would be all for Jackman departing.
    • But earlier this week we heard that Jennifer Lawrence is leaving after Apocalypse, and same with Hoult.
  • Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen aren’t getting any younger, and no word on McAvoy or Fassbender’s returns.
  • So Hugh Jackman was kinda the guy that would keep this whole franchise together.
  • My question following Jackman’s announcement is: where does X-Men go after this?
    • I know that we got Gambit and Deadpool coming out soon, so obviously the main X-Men movies aren’t stopping but I’m kinda worried in seeing where they’re gonna go from here.
    • If Fox has a plan, which I assume they do (at least 12%), then we’re good.
    • But following these announcements of J-Law and Hugh-Jack leaving, it would be a bit reassuring if Fox said, “hey, so we’re releasing Apocalypse, Wolverine, then X-Force in 2020 to end the franchise.”
  • I think that this huge 20 year odyssey of ups and downs would go out on a real high note if they really nail those three movies, 5 great ones in a row (while keeping Deadpool and Gambit relevant, as they would appear in X-Force).
  • Because sadly, all franchises eventually end…
    • But don’t worry, then we’ll get the reboot in 2030!

• Well at least we still have Robert Downey Jr. in Avengers!
  • It will be an even sadder day when My Movie Thoughts has to cover that news headline…

***

So guys, those are my thoughts on the Future of the X-Men Franchise, and Hugh Jackman’s Departure in 2017. What are your guys thoughts, and who should play Wolverine next (if anyone)? Let me know in the comments below, and as always, thanks for reading guys.