To have two studios fight for you must be an actress’s dream and Jennifer Lawrence is living it. Last month Lionsgate and Fox were fighting over Lawrence as Fox was considering starting production on the sequel to ‘X-Men: First Class’ in the fall, about the same time Lionsgate was planning on starting ‘Catching Fire,’ the sequel to the big box office hit ‘The Hunger Games.’ It now appears that a resolution has been obtained and Lawrence can now work on both films.
THR is reporting that Fox has informed talent agencies yesterday that it will begin shooting the ‘X-Men: First Class’ sequel in January leaving Lionsgate free to begin production on their sequel in August or September as planned.
Even though Lawrence is the headliner in ‘Catching Fire’ and would only be part of an ensemble in ‘X-Men: First Class 2,’ Fox had her under contract way before Lionsgate had even considered her for the role of Katniss Everdeen. Instead of enforcing their contractual rights to her, Fox has decided to move their production schedule to January, 2013 and allow Lawrence to film both projects. Of course, if the two studios have another conflict regarding the young star, Fox at that time can exercise their option.
The move on Fox’s part is good news for Lionsgate as they are still trying to get Gary Ross back on board to film the sequel. Even if he doesn’t return, getting another director to film ‘Catching Fire’ may not always be a bad thing. Both the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight Saga’ movies had different directors throughout its sequels and all were still able to break box office records.
As for the ‘X-Men: First Class’ sequel, its original director, Matthew Vaughn, is set to return as well as producer Bryan Singer (‘Mockingbird Lane’, ‘Jack the Giant Killer’). Simon Kinberg (‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter ‘) wrote the script which has Lawrence returning as Mystique.
So if you’re a fan of Lawrence, you’re in for a treat as she’ll be in two big films when both ‘Catching Fire’ and ‘X-Men: First Class 2’ are released. Of course, if you don’t want to wait that long, you can always watch her in ‘The House at the End of the Street.’
