X-Men in final fling, spinoff films not ruled out

CANNES, France - The successful X-Men fantasy film franchise came to a close at the Cannes film festival today with "X-Men: The Last Stand", bringing together the mutant superheroes for one last action adventure.

The ending could allow for a fourth instalment and director Brett Ratner was asked whether the Marvel comic adaptation could in fact spawn a "Next Generation" series.

"I must say that in my opinion ... there will not be an X-4. This will be the last stand," he told a news briefing after a press screening in Cannes, where the movie is not in the main competition.

But he added: "That doesn't mean there won't be a spinoff, a Wolverine movie, a Magneto movie, a Professor X movie. There's a lot of opportunities."

The plot of X-Men: The Last Stand is driven by a rupture within the mutant community when humans discover a treatment for what many of them consider to be a disease.

Some mutants craving a normal life queue up to take the cure, while others rise up in rebellion, leading to a dramatic final battle.

Australia's Hugh Jackman returns as the sharp-clawed Wolverine, and plays alongside Halle Berry (Storm), Famke Janssen (Phoenix), Ian McKellen (Magneto) and Patrick Stewart (Professor Charles Xavier).

The first film in the trilogy, "X-Men", earned nearly US$300 million at the global box office and "X2: X-Men United" more than US$400 million. Both were directed by Bryan Singer, who has just made the new Superman film.

The Variety trade publication predicted the third episode would do well in terms of ticket sales, although not as well as the middle instalment.

The first two big-budget summer films this year - "Mission: Impossible III" and "Poseidon" - failed to live up to box office expectations. But the just-released "The Da Vinci Code", which also premiered in Cannes, is a major hit.

Jackman is in Cannes with his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, who has a film in one of the smaller competitions.

"I don't think I could have written that script," he said. "I'd be lying if I said we didn't walk into our suite in the Carlton (hotel) and start jumping up and down on the bed."

Stewart was asked if there were any drawbacks to being involved in a film series.

"Do you think one can have too many franchises in one's career?" he asked back.

"I am still smarting from the fact that Ian McKellen starred in Lord of the Rings and apparently there was nothing for me," he joked, as McKellen looked on smiling.

"Harry Potter has gone through five incarnations. Every single actor over 60 in England is in the Harry Potter movies. I'm smarting from these rejections."

- REUTERS