MOVIE NEWS: X-Men: First Class Gets Kick-Ass Director; Release Date!

According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog, Matthew Vaughn, director of Kick-Ass, has signed on to direct Fox’s Marvel property, X-Men: First Class. A recent script rewrite apparently made Fox executives decide that the film could be ready for release by June 3, 2011.

The film deals with mutants, led by close friends Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr – before they took on the names Professor X and Magneto – who face the greatest threat the world has ever known. In so doing, a rift opens up between the two and leads to the ongoing war between Professor X’s X-Men and Magneto’s Brotherhood. The film will feature a mix of familiar mutants – like Jean Grey and Cyclops – and new ones.