X-Men: First Class | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Matthew Vaughn |
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Screenplay by |
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Story by |
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Based on |
X-Men by Jack Kirby Stan Lee |
Starring | |
Music by | Henry Jackman |
Cinematography | John Mathieson |
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Production
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Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date
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Running time
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132 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $140–160 million |
Box office | $353.6 million |
X-Men: First Class (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
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Film score by Henry Jackman | ||||
Released | July 12, 2011 | |||
Recorded | 2011 | |||
Genre | Film score | |||
Length | 60:14 | |||
Label | Sony Masterworks | |||
Producer | Henry Jackman | |||
Henry Jackman chronology | ||||
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X-Men soundtrack chronology | ||||
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X-Men: First Class (stylized onscreen as X: First Class) is a 2011 American superhero film, based on the X-Men characters appearing in Marvel Comics. It is the fifth installment in the X-Men film series. A prequel to the franchise, the film was directed by Matthew Vaughn and produced by Bryan Singer. The story is set primarily in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and focuses on the relationship between Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr / Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and the origin of their groups—the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, respectively, as they deal with the Hellfire Club led by Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), who is bent on world domination. The film co-stars Rose Byrne, January Jones and Oliver Platt. The film also introduces new actors to the series including Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence who, like McAvoy and Fassbender, reimagine popular characters from the franchise (Beast and Mystique) that have already been established in previous films, namely the original trilogy.
Producer Lauren Shuler Donner first thought of a prequel based on the young X-Men during the production of X2, and later producer Simon Kinberg suggested to 20th Century Fox an adaptation of the comic series X-Men: First Class, though the film does not follow the comic closely. Singer, who had directed both X-Men and X2, became involved with the project in 2009, but he could only produce and co-write First Class due to other projects. Matthew Vaughn, who was previously attached to both X-Men: The Last Stand and Thor, became the director, and also wrote the final script with his writing partner Jane Goldman. First Class overtook a planned Magneto prequel that entered development hell and the Writer's Guild of America arbitration gave a story credit to Magneto writer Sheldon Turner.