X Men First Class is an upcoming American superhero film, directed by Matthew Vaughn, based on the characters appearing in Marvel Comics. The film is the fifth installment of the X Men film series and a prequel to the first three movies. X Men First Class is scheduled for release on June 3, 2011.

The film, set during the 1960s, will focus on the relationship between Professor X and Magneto and the origin of their groups, the X Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. The film stars James McAvoy as Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Magneto. Other cast members include Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence and Lucas Till. The film was mostly shot in England and parts of the United States. Fox envisions this film as the first in a new trilogy.

X Men First Class Movie Overview:

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Produced by: Gregory Goodman / Simon Kinberg / Lauren Shuler Donner / Bryan Singer
Screenplay by: Jane Goldman / Ashley Edward Miller / Zack Stentz / Jamie Moss
Story by: Bryan Singer
Based on: Characters by / Stan Lee / Jack Kirby
Starring: James McAvoy / Michael Fassbender / Kevin Bacon / January Jones
Music by: Henry Pryce Jackman
Cinematography: John Mathieson
Editing by: Eddie Hamilton / Lee Smith
Studio: Marvel Studios / Marv Films / The Donners' Company / Bad Hat Harry Productions
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release date: June 3, 2011
Language: English
Budget: $120 million

X Men First Class Story:

In April 2006, one month before the release of X Men: The Last Stand, writer Zak Penn revealed he was contracted to write and direct a spin-off. He later explained in 2007 that "the original idea was to have me do a young X Men spin-off, a spin-off of the young X Men characters. But someone came up with a pretty interesting idea  it was this guy who worked with me named Mike Chamoy, he worked a lot with me on X3. He came up with how to do a young X Men movie which is not what you'd expect." Penn compared the idea to the comic book series X Men First Class, and Josh Schwartz was writing the screenplay in May 2008.

Schwartz's writing assignment also included the possibility of directing of X Men First Class, but Fox approached Bryan Singer, director of X Men and X2, in October 2009. The original idea was to green-light the film depending on the success of X Men Origins: Magneto, but Singer added elements of the Magneto spin-off, merged into a new script by Jamie Moss. In addition to Moss, Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz were hired to rewrite the script. Miller compared it tonally to Singer's work on the first two X Men films. Singer dropped out of the director's position in March 2010 due to his commitment to a Jack the Giant Killer adaptation.

He formalized his duties from director to producer. Matthew Vaughn signed on as Singer's replacement in May 2010. With his hiring, Fox announced a June 3, 2011 release date, and Jane Goldman was hired for another rewrite. Vaughn wanted to model X Men First Class after the 2009 Star Trek film, taking the franchise in a new direction with a fresh, young cast. An action scene that was to have been set in a dream sequence with revolving rooms was scrapped after the release of Inception. The 1960s setting of X Men First Class will be technologically inspired by the James Bond films of that era, also adding to the international feel of the characters. The X Men costumes will look much more as they did in the original comics compared with the first three films.

X Men First Class Characters and Actors:

One of the four major superhero comic book movies debuting this summer, and the only one yet to reveal any official footage or images, is that of X Men First Class. Focusing in on the history of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, X Men First Class also features  a cast of relatively unknown mutant characters, few of which have shown up in previous X Men films. The X Men First Class cast image first leaked on MSN for a brief moment but was quickly taken down while it spread like wildfire across the blogosphere.

The major characters from the Movie X Men First Class from left to right:

* Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender)
* Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne)
* Emma Frost (January Jones)
* Azazel (Jason Flemyng)
* Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult)
* Alex Summers/Havok (Lucas Till)
* Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz)
* Raven Darkholme/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence)
* Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy)

X Men First Class Trailer: