A new report claims that Marvel Studios is seeking “younger talent” for its upcoming X-Men movie, which is being directed by Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier to “keep the cost down.”
This new report comes from Variety which claims that an anonymous agent informed them that casting for the X-Men film is set to begin soon and that Marvel is looking to cast younger talent in order to “keep the cost down.”
This report comes in the wake of Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige recently sharing that the film would “be a very youth-oriented focused cast and movie” in order to appeal to a younger demographic.
Additionally, Feige told Nerdist, “[Director] Jake [Schreier]’s an incredibly smart guy, and he’s an incredibly talented filmmaker. We had a great experience with him on Thunderbolts, and if you saw that movie, what he did with those character interactions — he also has his pulse on, shall we say, a younger demographic. Not—he’s younger than me, for sure—but he’s tapped into that in a way that I think is important. It was important for Thunderbolts, much more important for X-Men, because X-Men, as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused and cast movie.”
He reiterated this in a press conference saying that Schreier is “going to make a youth-focused reboot. That may be reflected in mutant castings, and it’ll definitely be felt in the tone and perspective of the film.”
It’s not really surprising that Marvel Studios would want to try to cut back on cast costs and costs in general. Their films are not doing as well at the box office and if the opening weekends for Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman are any indication the international audience is very quickly abandoning superhero fare. Fantastic Four only grossed $100 million internationally compared to $117 million domestically. Just earlier this year, Captain America: Brave New World saw its international box office best the domestic haul. It brought in $213.1 million internationally and $200.5 million domestically.
If you go back to just last year, Deadpool & Wolverine had a domestic gross of $636.7 million while it’s international gross his $701.3 million. In 2014, Captain America: The Winter Soldier grossed $259.7 million domestically and $454.6 million internationally.
In fact, back in 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger indicated he had given Marvel a directive to cut down on its costs as well as its output. He said, “You pull back not just to focus, but also as part of our cost containment initiative. Spending less on what we make, and making less.
As for what to expect from the film, Schreier told The Playlist, “What I can say is, it’s just inherently interesting and complex material. The core idea of what ‘X-Men’ is involves complexity. It’s an incredible opportunity with super interesting characters and [much] internal conflict. These characters are wrestling with their identity and place in the world—that’s inherently interesting and complex material.”
Additionally, he indicated the film would be different from previous X-Men movies due to its scale, “But to be able to explore all of the ideas that are inherent to that rich source material, but also at the scale inherent to the source material, that’s like a very rare and fortunate opportunity. That’s very exciting.”
What do you make of Marvel reportedly cutting costs for this upcoming X-Men film?
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I had no idea who Hemsworth was before Thor and I’d seen Evans as the Human Torch but considered him a nobody. So, there is precedent. I don’t trust the powers that be at the rat to make any inspired casting this go-‘round though.
Because they know it's going to suck and few will want to see the latest "gender journeys."
They should just cut to the chase and use AI.