Expect X-Men 3 to get underway as early as January at Vancouver Film Studios, giving the local feature film folk some steady work.
The production intends to take advantage of the I, Robot crews being available around that time. Catwoman, which starts in September, may also logically fit into that mix.
Given the huge sets and the amount of construction involved, X3 crews will be hard at work long before the cameras start rolling. And Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine, will be tied up doing The Boy From Oz on Broadway, which may take him well into 2004.
The cast is expected to return almost in its entirety, albeit with concessions made for Halle Berry -- her time commitment will be minimal. There is some speculation that Bryan Singer, who directed the first two movies of the series, might not be back. In spite of the awesome results of his X2 work, the cast was not happy with certain aspects of the production -- not to mention their total lack of sympathy over Singer's reported prescription drug snafu, reportedly an accidental ingestion that briefly knocked him out of commission.
Both Berry and Ian McKellen complained about having to spend vast amounts of time in Vancouver for what amounted to very few days of camera time.
Then again, that's just based on idle speculation and unsubstantiated rumours. Don't quote me on that.