LOS ANGELES, May 9 — Jake Schreier, fresh from helming Thunderbolts*, one of Marvel’s most well-received films in recent years, is in early talks to direct the studio’s highly anticipated reboot of X-Men.
Industry sources confirmed with US entertainment outlet The Hollywood Reporter today that Schreier is in preliminary discussions to take the reins on the project, which marks a significant step forward for the long-awaited cinematic revival of the iconic superhero team.
The upcoming film is being scripted by Michael Lesslie, best known for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is producing.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has been quietly narrowing down its choice of director over recent weeks, with internal conversations accelerating in the past few days – a clear sign the project is finally gaining traction.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the early 1960s, X-Men has long been one of Marvel’s most successful comic book properties, enjoying widespread popularity through the 1980s and 1990s, bolstered by an animated TV series.
The first big-screen adaptation, directed by Bryan Singer in 2000, is widely credited with kickstarting the modern superhero movie era.
It also launched a star-studded cast, including Hugh Jackman as Wolverine – a role he continues to reprise, most recently in last year’s box office hit Deadpool & Wolverine, which grossed over US$1.3 billion (RM6.2 billion).
The original X-Men film series was a financial mainstay for 20th Century Fox, but began to lose momentum after 2019’s poorly received Dark Phoenix, followed by The New Mutants, which was released amid the pandemic to little fanfare.
Since Disney’s acquisition of Fox, fans have been eagerly awaiting the mutants’ formal return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Marvel has teased the legacy characters in various ways – from Patrick Stewart’s Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to the upcoming ensemble film Avengers: Doomsday, which is set to begin filming this summer for a 2026 release.
Schreier’s potential sign-on signals Marvel’s confidence in the director following his work on Thunderbolts*, which debuted with a solid US$74.3 million opening and earned favourable reviews and audience scores — a welcome rebound for the studio amid a challenging box office period.
Marvel has a track record of sticking with directors it sees eye-to-eye with, such as Jon Watts on the Spider-Man trilogy, Destin Daniel Cretton on Shang-Chi, and the Russo brothers on multiple Avengers instalments.
