X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Days of Future Past is a 2014 American superhero film, based on the fictional X-Men characters appearing in Marvel Comics and on the 1981 Uncanny X-Men storyline "Days of Future Past" by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Directed by Bryan Singer and distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is the seventh film in the X-Men film series and the third X-Men film directed by Singer after 2000's X-Men and 2003's X2. It stars an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. The story is written by Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, and Jane Goldman, with Kinberg writing the screenplay.

Days of Future Past acts as a sequel to both 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2011's X-Men: First Class, as well as a follow-up to 2013's The Wolverine. Principal photography began in April 2013 in Montreal, Canada and ended in August 2013. The film premiered in New York City on May 10, 2014 and is scheduled to be released on May 23, 2014 in 2D and 3D.

Plot
In a dystopian 2023, mutants are being hunted to near extinction from the Sentinels. In Moscow, Warpath, Blink, Bishop, Shadowcat, Colossus, Sunspot and Iceman are preparing to fight the Sentinels. The Sentinels arrive and kill all the mutants but Shadowcat and Bishop, who both transport back in time.

Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine and Storm arrive to find mutants hiding in Mongolia, where they plan to send Professor X back to 1973 to stop Mystique from killing Bolivar Trask, which triggered the Sentinel Program. However, Wolverine volunteers to go back due to his regenerative powers, and because Professor X couldn't physically handle going back decades. As the X-Men hide themselves in a monastery, Wolverine is sent back to the past by Shadowcat after asked by Professor X and Magneto to unite them together.

Wolverine wakes up in 1973 and eventually arrives at the disused mansion, where he makes a rough encounter with Hank McCoy. Wolverine finally sees Charles and asks his help, who reluctantly agrees. They plan to break Erik out of prison for killing President John F. Kennedy. The three first head to Peter Maximoff’s house and asks him to help. Meanwhile Trask asks for funding for his Sentinel program but is denied. In Saigon, Mystique rescues Havok, Ink, Toad and Spyke while finding Trask.

At the Pentagon, Charles, Wolverine, Quicksilver, Hank sneak into the facility and free Erik. Onboard a plane, however, Charles and Erik argue over how they each abandoned each other. Meanwhile Mystique impersonates a general at a meeting in Paris where she plans to kill Trask, but is unsuccessful as Wolverine, Charles, Erik and Hank arrive. Erik plans to kill Mystique and gives chase, but is attacked by Beast while Mystique escapes. Meanwhile Wolverine sees William Stryker and has traumatic flashbacks and briefly forgets his mission.

President Nixon eventually agrees to Trask’s program and arranges an unveiling at Washington DC. Magneto breaks into Trask’s Industries and steals the design plans of the Sentinels and readjusts the Sentinels onboard a train to DC. Back at the mansion, Charles eventually gives up a serum that would let him walk again but lose his powers and uses Cerebro to find Mystique. His mind is not focused and telepathically talks to the older Professor X where he is asked to hope again.

As Wolverine, Charles and Hank go to the unveiling of the Sentinels to find Mystique, the Sentinels begin attacking the public, where Nixon and Trask are taken to a safe room, followed by Mystique in disguise. Magneto lifts an entire stadium and transports it to surround the White House and starts controlling all the Sentinels but one on lookout, which goes after Wolverine and Beast. Wolverine attacks it but Magneto stabs him with reinforcement steel then drowns him in a nearby river. At the same time in 2023, Storm, Bishop, Colossus, Warpath, Sunspot, Iceman and Blink are killed protecting the monastery. Trask discovers Mystique in the safe room as Magneto pulls the room out of the White House. Beast injects himself with the human serum to avoid attack from the Sentinel. Mystique slightly grazes Magneto with a plastic gun before being convinced by Charles via telepathic powers to not kill Trask. Back in 2023, the sentinels are close to firing upon the X-Men but everyone disappears.

Logan wakes up back in the school and sees that Ororo, Kitty, Bobby, Hank, Marie, Jean and Scott all have survived. Logan finds Charles, who lets him know that they have a lot of catching up to do. Back in 1973, Mystique, impersonating Stryker, recovers the drowning Wolverine from the water.

In a post-credits scene people are seen bowing and chanting to En Sabah Nur.

Cast

 * Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine:
 * A mutant with accelerated healing, enhanced senses, adamantium-laced skeleton and retractable bone and adamantium claws. With the mutant race on the verge of extinction, Wolverine's healing factor makes him the only X-Man capable of withstanding the rigors of time travel. He'll have to survive long enough to complete the most important mission of his life: to go back in time to prevent a chain of events that will bring about the end of mutantkind. Director Bryan Singer stated that "Hugh of the future is sent, his consciousness is sent into his younger self [and] Hugh gets to play both parts because [Wolverine] is ageless." Writer Simon Kinberg explained in an interview why Wolverine is the time traveler and he stated "We made the decision for a lot of reasons... One reason is that he's the protagonist of the franchise, and probably the most beloved character to a mass audience."


 * James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X:
 * The world's most powerful telepath. Xavier has watched the mutant race be slowly hunted down. But now the time has come to lead his X-Men in their greatest battle; both in the present and the past. Singer described the younger Xavier as being "a very different beast from First Class' feckless playboy. He's a wounded animal, bearded, long-haired, filled with rage at the way the world has treated him." According to Stewart, there will be an explanation for Professor X's return after he was vaporized by Jean Grey in X-Men: The Last Stand. Professor X's return was previously alluded to during a post-credits scene in X-Men: The Last Stand and a mid-credits scene in The Wolverine.


 * Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto:
 * A mutant with the ability to manipulate metallic objects and described as "one of the most powerful mutants on earth". Magneto was at odds with Professor X and the X-Men for decades. But with mutant annihilation on the horizon, old animosities have to give way to new alliances. Singer described McKellen's role as "also a fixture in the future war, facing an enemy so monstrous that it forces former foes to band together."


 * Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique:
 * A mutant with the ability of shape-shifting. Singer stated that Mystique "is less innocent, evolved, getting closer to where Mystique was in X-Men 2." Lawrence revealed that Mystique is split off from Lensherr and Xavier and she has one mission of trying to assassinate somebody. She added "we’ve seen her [Mystique] in the future and what she becomes and this is kind of a turning point for her."


 * Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm:
 * A mutant with the ability to manipulate the elements. One of the most battle-tested and powerful X-Men, she will lead the X-Men in the toughest challenge they have ever faced. Berry stated that "there’s something very revealing and shocking about Storm in this movie. There are some things you find out about her that I think give you much more insight into who she is." When asked if her pregnancy affected Storm's role, she replied "I wasn’t in as much as I was meant to be. My ever-growing belly was posing a constant challenge! What I could do was getting more limited so the role that I play is so different from what it could have been, due to my surprise pregnancy."


 * Anna Paquin as Rogue:
 * A mutant with the ability to absorb the life force and mutant abilities of anyone she touches. Paquin initially played a larger role in the film, but according to Fox representatives, Paquin's role was reduced to "essentially, a cameo" after the majority of her scenes were cut in post-production. However, Paquin is still heavily featured in the film's various promotional materials.  Singer has stated that the deleted scenes featuring Paquin will "probably end up on the DVD" release of the film.


 * Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat:
 * A mutant with the ability to phase through solid objects. The youngest of the X-Men, she'll play an important role in their fight for survival. Singer described Pryde as the prime facilitator and that Pryde's phasing ability enables time-travel to happen.


 * Nicholas Hoult and Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy / Beast:
 * A mutant with super-strength, agility and speed. Grammer makes a cameo appearance as future Beast in the film.


 * Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask:
 * A military scientist and the head of Trask Industries who created a range of robots called Sentinels whose purpose is to hunt and destroy mutants. Dinklage stated that Trask "sees what he’s doing as a good thing — [his ambition is] definitely blind and he’s quite arrogant. He’s strove all his life for a certain respect and attention." He also stated that Trask is up against Richard Nixon.


 * Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman:
 * A mutant with the ability to create and manipulate ice. When Ashmore was asked about what can be expected to see how his character's relationship with Rogue has evolved since X-Men: The Last Stand, he replied "they’re constantly having these relationship issues so we’ll see what happens."


 * Omar Sy as Bishop:
 * A mutant with the ability to absorb energy to redirect it in kinetic blasts. Sy described Bishop as the guy from the future and that he fights for survival. Singer revealed that Bishop, along with Warpath, Sunspot and Blink, are not fresh recruits. He stated "they’re more refugees that are living day to day in this hideously ruined world. They don’t have much hope in the future. They’re on the run and they join forces with the remaining X-Men to try to do this one last attempt at fixing the world."


 * Daniel Cudmore as Peter Rasputin / Colossus:
 * A mutant with the ability to transform his skin into organic steel.


 * Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff / Quicksilver:
 * A mutant with the ability to run at supersonic speeds. Peters described Quicksilver as "very fast, he talks quick, he moves quick. Everything else is very slow compared to him, it’s like he’s always at the ATM waiting for the bastard in front of him to finish."


 * Fan Bingbing as Clarice Ferguson / Blink:
 * A mutant with the ability to create portals to teleport.


 * Adan Canto as Roberto da Costa / Sunspot:
 * A mutant with solar-powered super-strength and near invulnerability.


 * Booboo Stewart as James Proudstar / Warpath:
 * A mutant with super-strength, near invulnerability and the ability of flight.


 * Josh Helman as William Stryker:
 * A military man who hates mutants.


 * Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok:
 * A mutant with the ability to absorb cosmic energy and release it in plasma blasts.


 * Evan Jonigkeit as Toad:
 * A mutant with super-strong legs, prehensile tongue and paralyzing mucus.


 * Mark Camacho as Richard Nixon: President of the United States.

Additionally, Spyke and Ink will also appear. James Marsden and Famke Janssen will also reprise their roles as Cyclops and Jean Grey in cameo appearances in the film.

Development
Producer Lauren Shuler Donner stated in August 2006 that renegotiations would be required to continue the X-Men main film series. Newer cast members of X-Men: The Last Stand were signed, while the older cast members were not. Donner stated, "There is forty years worth of stories. I’ve always wanted to do "Days of Future Past" and there are just really a lot of stories yet to be told." She later pitched Bryan Singer on doing a fourth installment of the previously established X-Men franchise, following the completion of X-Men: First Class. In March 2011, Shuler Donner revealed that the film was in "active development at Fox," saying, "We took the treatment to Fox and they love it... And X4 leads into X5".

20th Century Fox envisioned the 2011 prequel X-Men: First Class as the first film of a new X-Men trilogy. Donner compared the franchise plans to be similar to the darker, more mature content of the Harry Potter film series. Early reports had Matthew Vaughn and Singer returning to direct and produce the sequel, respectively. While still attached to the project as a director, Vaughn stated, "First Class is similar to Batman Begins, where you have the fun of introducing the characters and getting to know them, but that takes time. But with the second one, you can just get on with it and have a rollicking good time. That's the main difference between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight." Describing how the next movie could open, Vaughn stated, "I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto." Singer has stated that the film could be set around the civil rights movement or the Vietnam War, and that Wolverine could once again be featured.

Pre-production
In November 2011, Simon Kinberg who co-wrote X-Men: The Last Stand and co-produced X-Men: First Class was hired to write the screenplay of the film. In May 2012, 20th Century Fox announced a July 18, 2014 release date for the film. The release date was later moved up two months earlier for a May 23, 2014 release. In August 2012, the title for the film was confirmed to be X-Men: Days of Future Past. The film is said to be inspired by Chris Claremont and John Byrne's X-Men comic book storyline, "Days of Future Past". The comic book storyline ran in Uncanny X-Men #141 and 142 in 1981 during Claremont and Byrne's run and introduced the idea of an alternate future for mutants that grew out of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants killing an important senator, leading to a future where all mutants are hunted by Sentinels.

In October 2012, Matthew Vaughn left the director duties to focus on Mark Millar's The Secret Service 2014 film adaptation. Bryan Singer was later announced as the director of the film. This is the third time that Singer is directing an X-Men movie.

John Myhre and Louise Mingenbach were hired as production designer and costume designer, respectively. According to Singer, Mingenbach, who worked previously in X-Men, X2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, will no longer produce the usual black leather costumes that were featured in the original trilogy. John Ottman who collaborated with all of Singer's works since the 1995 film The Usual Suspects has confirmed to work on the music and the editing of the film. Richard Stammers revealed in an interview that he is working on the film as the visual effects supervisor.

According to Singer, the story will partially be set during the 1970s and former United States president Richard Nixon will be a character in the film. He also stated that the film will be the biggest movie that he's ever made, and he mentioned that he approached film director James Cameron to talk about time travel, string theory and multiverses.

Casting
Director Bryan Singer used the online social networking service Twitter to reveal casting announcements of the film. In November 2012, Singer announced that James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult will be reprising their First Class roles. Later in the same month, he announced that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will reprise their respective roles as the older versions of the characters played by McAvoy and Fassbender. In December, Singer announced that Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as Wolverine. In January 2013, Singer announced that Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore and Ellen Page will reprise their roles of Rogue, Iceman and Kitty Pryde. In February, Singer announced that Peter Dinklage will star in the film as the main antagonist. In March, Singer announced that French actor Omar Sy has joined the cast. Halle Berry confirmed in an interview that she's returning to reprise her role as Storm, which was followed by announcement from Singer that Berry will be in the film. Singer tweeted a picture of headshots of the cast, which confirmed that Daniel Cudmore will return as Colossus and that Fan Bingbing and Booboo Stewart had joined the cast. In April, Singer announced that American singer and songwriter Lady Gaga has joined the cast as Dazzler, but it was later revealed that it was an April Fools' Day prank. Singer retweeted a photo of himself, Adan Canto and confirmed cast members Stewart, McKellen and Ashmore, which was followed by a confirmation from Canto that he had joined the cast. In May, Singer announced that Evan Peters had joined the cast as Quicksilver. In June, Australian actor Josh Helman was cast in a role. In July, Singer tweeted a picture in Twitter of actor Lucas Till at the set of the film, which confirmed that the actor is returning as Havok. In January 2014, Evan Jonigkeit was reported to portray the younger version of Toad.

Filming
Principal photography on X-Men: Days of Future Past began on April 15, 2013 at Mel's Cité du Cinema in Montreal, Canada and ended on August 17, 2013. Olympic Stadium, Montreal City Hall and McGill University were also used as locations for filming. The film was shot using Arri Alexa-M cameras with Leica Primes and Fujinon Zooms and it was the first X-Men film to be filmed in 3D. Additional filming in Montreal took place in November 2013 and February 2014. According to Calgary Herald, the film is the second most expensive movie produced by 20th Century Fox after the 2009 film Avatar. Comic book writer Chris Claremont revealed in an interview that he will be consulted for the film.

Post-production
Moving Picture Company and Digital Domain are working on the visual effects of the film. A scene from the film was shown after the credits for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as part of a prior deal with Marc Webb and Fox.

Music
Director Bryan Singer's regular collaborator John Ottman is working on the score of the film, in addition to being its editor. Ottman is the first composer to score more than one film in the X-Men film series, having previously scored 2003's X2. The film score will be released on May 26, 2014.

Release
X-Men: Days of Future Past held its world premiere in New York City on May 10, 2014 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. It is scheduled to be released in 2D and 3D theaters on May 21, 2014, in various international markets and on May 23, 2014 in the United States.

Marketing
In June 2013, 20th Century Fox presented a set tour video of X-Men: Days of Future Past in CineEurope conference in Barcelona, Spain, with director Bryan Singer as the tour guide. The set tour video was later attached to the home video release of the 2013 film The Wolverine. In July 2013, Singer, writer Simon Kinberg, producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Hutch Parker and cast members Evan Peters, Omar Sy, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Peter Dinklage presented at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International. Footage from the film was screened. In August 2013, Singer presented a footage from the film at the Fantasia International Film Festival. In March 2014, 20th Century Fox presented a footage from the film in CinemaCon. In April 2014, Page presented a footage from the film at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards while Kinberg and Dinklage attended WonderCon to the discuss the film. Singer pulled out from the publicity rounds for the film due to the sexual abuse lawsuits filed to the director.

For the theatrical release of The Wolverine in July 2013, a mid-credits scene teasing X-Men: Days of Future Past was attached. The scene, set two years after the events of The Wolverine, depicts Logan going through an airport security checkpoint while a commercial for Trask Industries plays in the background. Suddenly, Logan notices that all the metal objects around him start to shake and levitate. He whirls around to find Magneto, who claims he needs Logan's help to combat a threat to all mutants. When Logan asks Magneto why he should trust him, all the people around them freeze as Professor Xavier approaches Logan and assures him that Magneto is telling the truth. Adam Pockross of Yahoo! Movies described the mid-credits scene as the coolest part of The Wolverine and stating, "Boom! And that's how you tease the next film: by giving us so much to chew on, yet so few answers."

The first official trailer for the film was released in October 2013. Jason Callina of The Herald News gave the trailer a positive response stating "it is fantastic to see characters that I grew up with in the flesh.. we still have to wait till the end of May to see if Fox succeeded, but for now they have my interest." However, Ben Child of The Guardian criticized the trailer for the amount of characters that will appear in the film, stating "overloading the movie with superheroes might please fans of the comic books, but the rest of us will be chewing on our own spleens when the umpteenth brightly coloured dude turns up to spout one line of dialogue, then drop off the map."

For the theatrical release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in April 2014, a mid-credits scene teasing X-Men: Days of Future Past was attached. The scene, set during the Vietnam War, sees Mystique, trying to infiltrate a military camp led by William Stryker in an attempt to recruit fellow mutants Havok, Ink and Toad. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb had an existing contract with Fox Searchlight Pictures to helm another film following 2009′s 500 Days of Summer. After The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, Webb’s negotiations briefly stalled with Sony Pictures Entertainment due to his commitment to Fox. Fox eventually agreed to allow Webb to direct the sequel of The Amazing Spider-Man in exchange of Sony promoting its X-Men film for free.

In addition, three viral websites were launched before the release of the film: Trask-Industries.com in July 2013, TheBentBullet.com in November 2013 and 25 Moments.com in April 2014. To further promote the film, Jackman made a guest appearance on the April 28, 2014 episode of WWE Raw. The segment received mixed reactions.

Promotional partners
In July 2013, CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc. and 20th Century Fox announced a promotional partnernship for the theatrical release of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The upcoming promotion includes advertising, in-restaurant merchandising, collectors’ cups and a new film-themed burger (The Western "X-Tra" Bacon Thickburger) from CKE Restaurants such as Hardee's and Carl's Jr. Zachary Eller, senior vice president of marketing partnerships & promotions at 20th Century Fox stated "their fun and irreverent advertising campaigns are a great fit with our film and we couldn’t be more thrilled to join together to feed mutants everywhere!".

Mountain Dew is also teaming up with the film for a global promotional effort that will include prizes, a television commercial, online exclusives, in-store and in-theater advertisements and special commemorative packaging featuring X-Men characters from future and past. Anna Roca, senior vice president of international promotions at 20th Century Fox stated "The adventurous, energetic attitude of their fan base mirrors the franchise’s own – and their international reach helps bring our beloved mutants to more corners of the world than ever before."

Virgin Trains launched a train at London's Euston in March 2014 to promote the film. Actors Hugh Jackman and James McAvoy attended the launching of the 11-car Pendolino train, which features the film characters on the carriages.

Critical response
The film has received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 90% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 7.3/10, based on 21 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "X-Men: Days of Future Past combines the best elements of the series to produce a satisfyingly fast-paced outing that ranks among the franchise's finest installments." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 72% based on 9 reviews. Sean O'Connell of Cinema Blend said the film was "the greatest, most complete and staggeringly entertaining [X-Men film] to date." Mike Avila, the CEO of AviLand Productions felt the film was "superb", while film critic Kevin McCarthy praised the actors' performances, as well as the action and emotion. Steve Rose of The Guardian rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, summarising that "Non-devotees might struggle, but director Bryan Singer whips up the action towards a symphonic climax." In contrast, Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and called the plot "a curate's egg, thoroughly scrambled."

Sequel
In December 2013, Singer announced the upcoming X-Men film, titled X-Men: Apocalypse. The film is scheduled to be released on May 27, 2016, and will act as a sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past. According to Singer, the film will focus the origin of the mutants, it will be "more of a First Class sequel", and will take place in the 1980s. Along with Singer, Simon Kinberg, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty are attached to work on the film. McAvoy, Fassbender, Hoult and Lawrence will reprise their roles in the sequel, while the younger version of Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm will appear. Channing Tatum will appear as Gambit in the film.