10:09 PM Tony Falcone

Bryan Singer Announces Days of Future Past Follow-Up Will Be Titled 'X-Men: Apocalypse'; Set For 2016 Release

Well it's not everyday that a director decides to take the liberty if letting his fans know about the sequel to a film that is still half a year away from being released, but leave it to Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, X-Men) to break that golden standard. While the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past has been gaining marketing traction since the release of it's first trailer, director Bryan Singer has now turned our attention to the franchise, specifically their next planned film. In a recent tweet, Singer has revealed the film will be called X-Men: Apocalypse, leading to the assumption that the film's antagonist will be the famed Marvel baddie himself. With so many film related news stories breaking recently, this one's yet another shocker to add to the collection.

As stated above, the report comes in through Singer himself via a tweet posted earlier today. In the tweet the director not only reveals the film's title (And villain), but also let's slip when we can expect the film to hit theaters; 2016. Fox has now announced the film's specific release date is set for May 27, 2016. Below is Singer's original tweet:

The news does come as a bit of surprise, given that we're still so far off from X-Men: Days of Future Past's release, but the announcement is surely a clever move by Singer. While early rumors had suggested the character of Apocalypse; who's arguably the X-Men's most prominent villain along with Magneto and Mr. Sinister, may have a part in DOFP, it now seems much more likely that the character may be teased in a post credits scene. Fans have been patiently awaiting the debut of the fan favorite villain on to the big screen, although it's still unknown whether the film will be directly following the famed Age of Apocalypse story line.
Prior to this announcements, details on the future of the X-Men franchise have been pretty vague, with several possible films in development with no real confirmations of any. The long anticipated Deadpool solo film from director Tim Miller has recently become a more realistic possibility, as both Ryan Reynolds and Miller have said that they're merely waiting for Fox to go them the green light before starting up on the film. There's also recently been an X-Force spin-off film written (And possibly to be directed) by Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2) announced, which is set to follow the fellow mutant team, although the details of project such as a release have yet to be revealed. Same could be said for the recently announced third Wolverine film, with the only confirmation so far being that both Hugh Jackman and director James Mangold will be returning.
With the project still so early in development, information and details are as of yet scare, and we probably shouldn't expect any major updates on the project into after Days of Future Past is released (Possibly at this years San Diego Comic-Con?). None the less, a pivotal question still remains; which team of X-Men will the the film follow. Currently in DOFP, we'll be seeing both the X-Men of the alternate future (Storm, Rogue, Iceman, Bishop, etc.) and of the 1970's X-Men (Young Xavier, Beast, Havok, with allies Magneto and Mystique). First Class director Matthew Vaughn has in the past expressed his desire to make a complete trilogy focusing on his cast of X-Men, and given that the 70's X-Men will be the focus of 70% of the film, it's highly likely they'll be the team focused on in the sequel.
Although, the fact that word of the sequel comes from Singer may be a sign that it'll in fact be the next installment for his future band of X-Men. It's all up in the air at this point, but we'll continue to keep you posted any updates surrounding X-Men: Apocalypse, which is currently set to hit theaters on May 27, 2016.
So are you happy X-Men: Apocalypse will be the follow-up to Days of Future Past? Would you have preferred for the X-Men to have faced another villain? Sound off below.