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Wolverine Japan Adventure Is a Go
By: Roger Friedman // Wednesday March 3, 2010

Wolverine Japan Adventure Is a GoWolverine is heading to Japan, for real.

The next episode of the Hugh Jackman starrer is ready for a start next January.

Christopher McQuarrie, of “X-Men” and “Valkyrie” fame, has finished the script that THR reported he was starting last August.

No director has been signed. And the script is a little different than originally thought.

Based on a story cycle by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont, Wolverine’s adventures in martial arts will be a love story featuring a Japanese actress, I am told. “It’s a beautiful story,” says a source, “and will be very different than the first film.”

In addition to “Wolverine in Japan,” don’t worry. There are plenty of X-Men movies on the drawing boards. The next one will bring back director Bryan Singer, who made the first two films. When Singer was sidelined with “Superman Returns,” Brett Ratner stepped in to make “X-Men: The Last Stand.” That film broke boxoffice records when it debuted.

As for the plot, McQuarrie's last draft from January has us rejoining Logan in Japan, where we left him at the end of the first Origins movie. There, he begins a forbidden romance with a Japanese woman whose hand in marriage is, unfortunately, promised to another man. This being Hugh Jackman, of course, he doesn't take no for an answer. And, this being Japan, that doesn't go over so well. Soon enough, Logan must do battle with her furious father and samurai-sword-wielding brothers. Wolverine claws versus samurai swords? Truly, a geeky Sophie's Choice.

No 'Gangster Squad' For Darren Aronofsky As He Nears Deal On 'Wolverine 2'

Scratch the Warner Bros period crime drama Gangster Squad from Darren Aronofsky's Things To Do List. That Will Beall-scripted picture momentarily seemed to be the only thing in the way of the Black Swan helmer reuniting with his Fountain star Hugh Jackman in the Christopher McQuarrie-scripted X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 at 20th Century Fox. The festival acclaim for Black Swan has put the filmmaker in hot demand (there was also a reported flirtation with Superman) and now it's a matter of dealmaking isn't easy. Word is that Aronofsky--who worked for next to nothing upfront to get Black Swan made is in the throes of landing a healthy payday in the vicinity of $5 million against 5% of gross. Fox hasn't closed a deal yet with the filmmaker's CAA reps, but clearly Fox sees the filmmaker as ready to make that leap from modest grossing prestige fare like The Wrestler to the high gross stratosphere, the kind of leap made by filmmakers like Bryan Singer and Chris Nolan.