New X-Men Film in the Works at Marvel
Marvel regained the rights to its famous mutant team 5 years ago. Now, a new X-Men film has been announced from the pen of a Hunger Games scribe.
Last night, Deadline officially announced that Michael Lesslie will take on the job of writing Marvel’s X-men film. As of right now, no other talent is attached to this film, which will be produced by Kevin Feige. In addition, there is no set release date.
Michael Lesslie will write the upcoming Marvel Studios 'X-MEN' film.
— X-Men Updates (@XMenUpdate) May 21, 2024
(via: https://t.co/AHoZ7pnF3Y) pic.twitter.com/sZIOKjF8f0
Michael Lesslie is a British writer who emerged in 2011 as a playwright with his play Prince of Denmark. His first film was the 2015 adaptation of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender. In 2018 he served as lead writer and executive producer on The Little Dummer Girl, a limited series starring Florence Pugh and Michael Shannon. Recently, he gained recognition for penning the recent Hunger Games film: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The prequel film starring Tom Blythe and Rachel Zegler was one of the first films to release after strikes. Despite that, it was a moderate success, garnering 337 million dollars worldwide.
‘THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES’ has crossed $300M at the worldwide box office.
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) December 17, 2023
The movie had a $100M budget. pic.twitter.com/AVgRkZ3DGx
Michael Lesslie: Wizard or Mutant?
This is not the only high-profile writing assignment Lesslie has been in contention for. In January, Deadline reported that Lesslie had made a pitch for HBO’s Harry Potter series, and was one of the writers in contention for the job. However, it is not yet known whether Lesslie will take on both of these projects. Regardless, these are two highly sought-after assignments that just show Lesslie’s rising name in Hollywood.
Marvel is being very careful regarding its X-men film, which is one of its more important projects. The studio is coming off a massive wave of critical acclaim for the animated series X-men 97, which boasts a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition, Deadpool and Wolverine, the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature the X-men, is set to be one of the biggest films of the summer. Check out Glitter‘s reaction to the official trailer here.
