Last week, it was announced that Mathew Vaughn had abruptly left the the pre-production process on his 'X-Men: First Class' sequel 'X-Men: Days of Future Past.' Five days later, it's got a new director who's an old hand at these: Bryan Singer.

This news comes from Deadline Hollywood, and there are a number of things that make this decision fascinating. Singer hasn't had a hit film since 2003's 'X2: X-Men United' - he followed that with 'Superman Returns' (which made a lot of money, but cost too much), 'Valkyrie' and he's got the upcoming 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' which was delayed nine months and smells like a troubled production that will probably die an embarrassing death. So Singer - who will need a hit - will be in his comfort zone with a reasonable budget and with a built in audience. Win-win.

On top of which, it's readily apparent from 'X2' that he planned to make a trilogy of 'X-Men' films, but had a contentious relationship with 20th Century Fox's head of production Tom Rothman. Which is partly why he jumped ship to make 'Superman Returns' and left the end of his trilogy for Brett Ratner to helm. With Rothman out at Fox, that means that Singer might have more control over this picture, but word is that they're scheduled to start shooting at the beginning of the year to make a June, 2014 release date. In that way, if they want to make that release date, Singer was the only choice.

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