Bryan Singer to Produce X-men: First Class, 2011 Release Date Possible?

It's been a wild couple of weeks when it comes to Bryan Singer and X-men: First Class, the proposed next film in the X-men series and a prequel to the 2000 original. For months, it was assumed that Singer would be directing the project despite his disgustingly brutal workload. Then in an interview with the LA Times, it seemed to be confirmed although the director warned about a possible monkeywrench in the works(that monkeywrench being his prior commitments to another film). Just a couple weeks later, it was all but rumored that Singer would not be able to direct the project, and that Fox was actively seeking a replacement. Well, consider it confirmed.

Deadline is reporting that Singer has officially passed on the directing duties to the film, which will feature the early adventures of the original X-men and the forging of the contentious relationship between Professor X and Magneto. Singer is still on board to produce, but that'll be small comfort to a host of fans who have seen how great he is when combined with Marvel's mutants. 

There is, however, a silver lining. The reason for the move is that Fox was so happy with the script produced by Jamie Moss(based on Singer's story treatment) that they want to fasttrack this for a possible 2011 release, with the hope that it will be the first part of a trilogy.

At this point, no director has been named, but we've been assured that the names being considered will make comic book fans very happy. That means either Zack Snyder or Matthew Vaughn, in my opinion. As long as it's not Brett Ratner or Frank Miller...