Raise your hand if you remember the 1995 film Waterworld. At the time, production costs got completely out of hand and it ballooned to become the most expensive film of all time, clocking in at around $175 million. Nowadays, studios spend those amounts willingly, with the 2017 film Justice League estimated to cost around $300 million and the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is considered the most expensive movie to date at around $379 million. Waterworld was expensive due to such things as sets having to be rebuilt after being destroyed by a hurricane. Solo: A Star Wars Story was expensive due to massive reshoots after the directors were replaced by Ron Howard. Shall we talk about the cost of digitally removing Henry Cavill's mustache in Justice League? Yeah, let's not.
Changes on a film set occur because of all the crazy variables ranging from scheduling to changes in directors to problems with budget. The X-Men movies have certainly had their share of changes to their scripts and final edits, with a lot of significant changes happening at the last minute. For example, we all love Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, but did you know that he was added as a cast member three weeks into production? Due to budget concerns, such characters as Nightcrawler and Beast didn't make it into the first X-Men film. Since it was a last minute decision to cut the characters, which character wound up getting most of Hank McCoy's lines? What roles in the X-Men movies were Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson interested in? Mutation is change, so enjoy these last minute changes made to your favorite mutant movies!
20 SAVED: ADDING HUGH JACKMAN
A little problem like an actor dropping out won't stop a film from going into principal photography. That's what happened with Dougray Scott, who was the original choice to play Wolverine. He was stuck making Mission: Impossible II and couldn't be a part of X-Men.
Three weeks of shooting went by and director Bryan Singer had yet to cast Logan. They were able to audition a relatively unknown Hugh Jackman for the part, who did a screen test with Anna Paquin featuring their conversation in the truck before Sabretooth attacked. Hugh Jackman being a part of the X-Men was a (last minute) highlight of the franchise.
19 HURT: HAVING BRETT RATNER DIRECT X3
Bryan Singer directed X-Men and X2. He was lined up to direct the second sequel but dropped out at the last minute to direct Superman Returns. Matthew Vaughn was hired but quickly dropped out. Vaughn's replacement was Brett Ratner, a person that one point was considered to direct Superman Returns!
Needless to say, the directing styles and storytelling sensibilities of Singer and Ratner are very different. Ratner made significant changes in the script and edit room. The Alcatraz scene was made the end climactic battle, and the fate of Cyclops was edited to seem more open ended. The film was a financial success but received mixed to poor reviews.
18 SAVED: NOT HAVING THE SPIDER-MAN CAMEO IN X-MEN
The DVD for X-Men has a scene where the X-Men are exploring the Statue of Liberty. From the shadows appear Spider-Man, and the actors laugh hysterically when they see him. Are we saying that scene should have been in the actual movie? No, but there was a chance for Wolverine to be in Spider-Man!
In the 2002 Spider-Man film, Hugh Jackman was actually going to appear as Wolverine. What stopped him? They literally couldn't find his wardrobe for the scene. Why is this a good thing? Considering the legal issues surrounding Marvel in the past, a Spidey appearance in X-Men probably would have stopped him from being in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
17 HURT: NOT HAVING WOLVERINE WEAR CLASSIC UNIFORM
As the saying goes: the clothing makes the man. However, if you're Wolverine, it's the adamantium skeleton and healing factor. The Wolverine was the 2013 sequel to X3, providing such favorite comic book elements as the Silver Samurai and Wolvie's adventures in Japan.
Audiences wondered if this would finally be the time we would see Wolverine suit up in his iconic yellow and brown outfit. The answer was: kind of. In a scene that they decided to cut at the last minute, Wolverine opens up a suitcase given to him and inside is his uniform from the comics. So close, yet so far!
16 SAVED: NOT HAVING JANET JACKSON PLAY STORM
What's up with the Jackson family and Marvel comics? At one point, Michael Jackson wanted to buy Marvel Comics in the 1990s. He might have felt buying the company would be the only way he could get to play Spider-Man! According to his friend, Stan Lee, Michael was interested in playing Peter Parker on the big screen.
Michael's sister, Janet Jackson, also has a connection to the Marvel Universe. Janet Jackson was a frontrunner for playing Storm. Janet would have done a great job, but would she have stuck around for multiple films given her active music career? Rumors also had Michael Jackson wanting to play Professor X!
15 HURT: CUTTING DEADPOOL'S BUDGET
It's pretty crazy to think that Deadpool was a hard film to get made. Thanks to the Deadpool test footage that was leaked back in 2014, fans were eager for more and the film finally gained enough momentum to get made. During the filming, even more hurdles would have to be leapt over.
Fox Studios decided at the last minute to cut several million dollars from the budget. Because of this, a number of scenes and characters had to be removed from the film. Deadpool forgetting his duffel bag of guns was included because they couldn't afford to film the climactic scene with them.
14 SAVED: OMITTING STORM/WOLVERINE ROMANCE
Days of Future Past was a great adaptation of X-Men #141 - #14, which came out in 1981. The plots were similar with notable differences occurring in the movie. For example, it was Kitty Pryde traveling back into the past, not Pryde sending Wolverine back in time. Another addition to the film was (thankfully) cut at the last minute.
In the future, mutants are on the run and hunted by robots called Sentinels. What's also happening in the future? A romance between Storm and Wolverine. Yes, the comics have featured the two romantically involved, but film audiences are not over the love triangle between Cyclops, Wolverine and Jean Grey.
13 HURT: NOT HAVING ROBERT RODRIGUEZ DIRECT
The history of the X-Men is as long as it is confusing, and sifting through the backstory of the mutant team is no easy task. When it came time to find a director for the first X-Men film, Robert Rodriguez was approached but turned it down due to an unfamiliarity with the source material.
Although you probably want someone to direct that's a fan of Marvel, just look at some of his films. The visual style of Sin City was groundbreaking. Rodriguez will also be directing the big budget adaptation to Alita: Battle Angel. Just think what he could have done stylistically with the X-Men movie franchise!
12 SAVED: RE-RELEASING LOGAN AS A BLACK AND WHITE FILM
No, we're not saying that Logan being released in black and white saved the movie, but hear us out for a second. Logan was special because it was Hugh Jackman's swan song playing Wolverine. The film was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2017 Academy Awards and was a great piece of cinema that just happened to feature a guy with claws.
Director James Mangold wanted to do something different and was trying to avoid making another superhero movie. The film was re-released in black and white and given the title Logan Noir. This emphasized the artistry of the film and this last minute change reminded us that even superhero films can be works of art.
11 HURT: NOT HAVING SABRETOOTH IN LOGAN
Logan is (supposedly) the last time Hugh Jackman was to play Wolverine. It is also (supposedly) the last time Patrick Stewart will play Professor Charles Xavier. Due to a last minute change, audiences could have gotten a final glimpse of Liev Schreiber playing Sabretooth.
Logan and his crew go to a hotel with a casino, and in early drafts of the script the casino was owned by none other than Sabretooth. This would have allowed Liev to redeem himself after a disliked portrayal of Logan's brother in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This failed at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts.
10 SAVED: OLIVIA MUNN NOT BEING CAST IN DEADPOOL
Olivia Munn is a well-liked actress, having appeared in Magic Mike and of course remembered fondly as host of Attack of the Show. Originally she auditioned to play Vanessa in Deadpool, but the part went to Monica Baccarin instead. If she's so cool, then why is it a good thing that she didn't get cast as Ryan Reynold's love interest?
It was her audition for Deadpool that got her connected to X-Men: Apocalypse. If she was in Deadpool, then she probably wouldn't be able to play Psylocke. Although Apocalypse was not well-received, fans were excited to see Psylocke on the big screen (and possibly return for sequels).
9 HURT: CUTTING DANGER ROOM FROM TWO FILMS
When you think of the X-Men, lots of iconic characters and locations come to mind. Can you have the X-Men and not have Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters? Could you have an X-Men movie and not feature Cerebro/Cerebra? How could the X-Men stay sharp and not have the Danger Room? Well, producers at the last minute seemed to think audiences could live without the last one.
The first X-Men movie contained scenes in the Danger Room and director Bryan Singer fought hard to have them included, but the budget wouldn't allow for it to happen. For the sequel, the Danger Room was actually built but scenes were not filmed.
8 SAVED: MAGNETO SPRUNG FROM JAIL BY QUICKSILVER
Remember when people were scoffing at early promotional materials featuring Quicksilver in Days of Future Past? Evan Peters then virtually stole the movie with his scene in the kitchen in which his sheer speed makes everything look like it's in slow-motion. Early drafts did not have Quicksilver springing his father out of jail.
Initially, the mutant that was going to come to the rescue of Magneto would have been the Juggernaut. This was a holdover from when Matthew Vaughn was going to direct. When Singer became director, he switched it to Quicksilver. The actor that was supposed to play Juggernaut was re-cast as young William Stryker.
7 HURT: CUTTING MALL SEQUENCE FROM X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
Just when we finally get to know and love our cinematic comic book characters, a reboot comes along and hits a reset button. We love you, Tom Holland, but we also loved Tobey Maguire and even Andrew Garfield. In the rush to get comic plots on the screen, character development sometimes gets overlooked.
In X-Men: Apocalypse, scenes were shot in which Jubilee, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler and Cyclops go to a mall and hang out. It's not essential to the Apocalypse plot line, but it was essential in the audience getting to relearn these familiar characters; cutting the mall scenes only made them seem less likable.
6 SAVED: KELSEY GRAMMER CAMEO IN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Beast was one of the founding members of the X-Men and it was the intention from the very first movie to have Hank McCoy be on the team. Due to budget concerns, Beast (along with Nightcrawler, Pyro, and the Danger Room) was cut from the film, but made his big debut in X-Men: The Last Stand.
X-Men: Days of Future Past was a big reset button that allowed for such characters as Cyclops and Jean Grey to return. Grammer wanted to appear in the film but initially couldn't due to commitments on Transformers: Age of Extinction. During the reshoots, he was able to make a last minute cameo, allowing for a reunion of almost every character from the first trilogy.
5 HURT: GIVING LINES TO JEAN GREY INTENDED FOR BEAST
The first X-Men film came out in 2000, and audiences didn't necessarily get the X-Men team we were used to. Missing from the original roster was Angel, Beast and Iceman. Wolverine and Storm were not a part of the original comics team, having joined the X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men#1, which came out in 1975.
Initial drafts of the X-Men film did in fact have the furry Hank McCoy running around the School for Gifted Youngsters. At the last minute, the character was cut, and most of his lines of dialogue were given to Famke Janssen's Jean Grey. It would have been better if they just kept Hank around, don't you think?
4 SAVED: MAKING SURE X2 HAD A PG-13 RATING
Thanks to the success of Deadpool and Logan, the idea of a financially successful comic book movie with an R rating is now an appealing one. Marvel did it with Blade back in 1998 but at the time there were no cinematic comic book universes to set the standard.
When X2 was made in 2003, it featured Wolverine going berserk and ripping through armed intruders that broke into the X-Mansion. The initial cut of the film was rated R due to the savagery of the scene. Director Bryan Singer could have fought to keep it, but made cuts to get a PG-13 rating. Good call; that wasn't the time or place to fight for an R-rated mutant movie.
3 HURT: ROGUE'S REMOVAL FROM DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Time travel plot lines in movies can be quite complex and a headache to understand. Anna Paquin's Rogue was supposed to play a bigger part in X-Men: Days of Future Past but her scenes were cut in the interest of keeping the plot streamlined. A version of the film, dubbed the Rogue Cut, exists with 17 minutes of extra footage.
In the film, Wolverine accidentally injures Kitty Pryde, who is using her powers to transport Logan's consciousness to the past. In the Rogue Cut, her injuries are profound, and Rogue has to step in and copy Kitty's powers.
2 SAVED: POST-CREDIT SCENES TO X3
X-Men: The Last Stand said goodbye to Cyclops, Professor X and Jean Grey. Magneto and Mystique also became de-powered, so how the heck can you make any more movies after taking them all out?
Last minute changes were made to allow for future X-Men movies to exist. Shot at the last minute were the scenes in which Professor X makes his return and surprises Moira McTaggart as well as the scene that implies Magneto still has his powers. As of 2018 there have been a total of 8 X-Men sequels and spinoffs, so clearly there are more stories to tell!
1 HURT: CUTTING HELLFIRE CLUB FROM X3
In X3, it makes perfect sense that Professor X and Magneto would fight over Jean Grey, who was beginning her transformation into the Phoenix. However, after the first third of the movie, Jean has gotten rid of Charles and Cyclops. In earlier drafts, the power struggle continued with a third party: The Hellfire Club.
In Bryan Singer's initial idea for the sequel, Jean would join not Magneto but Emma Frost, who was rumored to be played by Sigourney Weaver. Magneto, The Hellfire Club and the X-Men would all be vying for her. When director Brett Ratner came on board, he took out these awesome elements at the last minute.