After 18 years of films, people have grown conditioned to have zero expectations for an upcoming X-Men film. Most people anyway, as famed comic book writer Chris Claremont is really setting himself up here as he recently proclaimed X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be to the franchise what Casino Royale was for James Bond. Claremont must’ve raised an eyebrow or two in his interview, because he immediately offered justification in his quote (via Screen Rant):
Following 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, fan-favorite composter Hans Zimmer called it quits when it came to tights and capes. After composing the score for all three of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, and co-scoring BvS with Junkie XL, he decided to hang up his cowl.
Now, however, it would seem that he’s breaking out the mask one more time and will provide the score for the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix. While speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Collider), star Evan Peters revealed the information (before realizing he perhaps should not have revealed it), saying:
“I think the film is gonna be incredible. Hans Zimmer’s scoring it—I don’t know if I was supposed to say that or not. Simon has surrounded himself with incredible people, and Simon knows this world better than anybody, so it was just cool to see him—he’s so happy and in his element in that world, and also being able to direct and guide everybody in this way. I was very happy for him and I think it’s gonna be great.”
UPDATE: Following this news, filmmaker Bryan Singer posted a photo on Instagram of “passing the torch” to Kinberg for the next film. You can find it below along with the original story.
Deadline reports longtime X-Men series writer and producer Simon Kinberg has officially signed on to write and direct X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which will bring back the cast of X-Men: Apocalypse, including James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler).
Kinberg will also produce the film alongside Lauren Shuler Donner and Hutch Parker.