BRYAN SINGER OFFERS A TRAILER TEASE

X-Men: Apocalypse Director Bryan Singer Offers a Trailer Tease

The X-Men film franchise scored its greatest hit yet last summer when X-Men: Days of Future Past received universal acclaim and became the highest-grossing installment in the long-running series. That success set the stage for an even bigger adventure for the followup: X-Men: Apocalypse. As the title would suggest, the film sees the heroes of the First Class trilogy do battle against Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), their greatest threat who wants to start a new world order.

Apocalypse director Bryan Singer has kept fans involved with the creative process, posting various behind-the-scenes looks at certain characters and scenes on social media. With news that the first trailer for the movie will be attached to this December’s Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Singer is now giving moviegoers a taste of the Apocalypse preview.

The filmmaker once again took to Instagram to share a shot from the teaser he’s piecing together. It shows Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) with a very troubled look on his face as he uses Cerebro:

It’s still a little too early for the now-traditional “teaser for the teaser” video that many Hollywood tentpoles use, but the still photo is a nice glimpse that will get fans enthused for the full trailer. Without any context to go off of, there’s a very good chance this image is from the sizzle reel that was shown in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con 2015. Attendees may remember a shot of Professor X looking gravely concerned with the Cerebro helmet on, saying that Apocalypse “can’t control us all.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if the first official trailer for Apocalypse followed a similar format when compared to the Comic-Con footage, which was heavy on setting up Apocalypse. By now, many viewers are familiar with the leads of the modern X-Men films, but some casual audiences were left confused by the Days of Future Past post-credits sequence (which showed a young Apocalypse in action). It would be smart to push the villain front and center in the early stages of the promotional campaign, making more moviegoers familiar with the character before diving into deeper story details.

Even more so than its predecessor, Apocalypse has a lot on its plate. Not only is it serving as the culmination for the First Class trilogy, it’s also kicking off a new era of X-Men movies by introducing younger versions of iconic mutants such as Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), and Storm (Alexandra Shipp). Despite the subtitle, Apocalypse is merely the beginning, as it was recently confirmed that a new X-Men film is on track to hit theaters some time in 2018. It will be interesting to see if the teaser lays any bread crumbs for the franchise’s future or opts to hold the cards for a later date.

Regardless, there’s no denying that it’s an exciting time to be an X-Men fan. Days of Future Past was the resounding comeback that the series needed after a couple of lackluster entries, and with Singer being in the director’s chair for at least this next installment, many are confident he’ll be able to keep the brand on the right track, maintaining its place alongside the best comic book movie properties.