'X-Men: Apocalypse' To Be Directed By Bryan Singer, Will Focus On 'First Class' Characters

Bryan Singer isn't just the guy that got to break the news about X-Men: Apocalypse — he'll be the one to direct it, too. Though the filmmaker revealed last week via Twitter that the new X-Men sequel would be coming in 2016, he declined to say much else at the time. However, a new report indicates that Singer will indeed be back to helm, and that the movie will focus on the younger First Class cast, as opposed to the original trilogy set. Hit the jump to get all the details.Vulture has confirmed that Singer will indeed be back for X-Men: Apocalypse, which is currently scheduled to open May 27, 2016. Not surprisingly, the plan for Fox is to use the ending of X-Men: Days of Future Past to set up the events to come in X-Men: Apocalypse.

But while X-Men: Days of Future Past combines the classic X-Men cast (e.g., Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen) and the newer X-Men stars (e.g., James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence) into one star-studded extravaganza, X-Men: Apocalypse will just follow the First Class team. Although First Class is one of the franchise's lowest grossers, the studio is banking on Days of Future Past to give the younger stars the momentum they need to make X-Men: Apocalypse a hit.

X-Men: Age of Apocalypse will mark the sixth X-Men movie overall (or eighth, if you count the two Wolverine flicks), the fourth X-Men movie that Singer has directed, following X-Men, X2, and X-Men: Days of Future Past, and his first focusing solely on the First Class cast. As for when exactly production will get going, or what precisely the plot will entail, that remains to be seen.

In the meantime, X-Men: Days of Future Past opens May 23, 2014. Since Singer clearly isn't going anywhere, let's just hope it's good.