Matthew Vaughn to direct sequel to X-Men: First Class

Matthew Vaughn has been hired to direct the sequel to his own superhero reboot X-Men: First Class, reports Deadline.

Though little definite information about its content is forthcoming, the follow-up will be written by Simon Kinberg, who came to prominence with his screenplay for Mr and Mrs Smith in 2005 and was a producer on First Class. There is no mention in Deadline's report of Vaughn's regular screenwriting partner Jane Goldman. X-Men impresario Bryan Singer, who directed the first two films in the previous series about mutant superheroes, is returning as a producer after coming up with the story for First Class.

X-Men: First Class was a prequel to the three "main" X-Men films, taking place in the 1960s and starring James McAvoy as the young Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Magneto. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with an 87% "fresh" rating on the review aggregator rottentomatoes.com, though there were notable dissidents. "The film ... loses a bit of its narrative drive and impetus once the two heroes have joined forces and burdened themselves with its matriculating class of mutants," wrote the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw in the midst of a three-star review. McAvoy, Fassbender and Winter's Bone star Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) are set to return.

X-Men studio 20th Century Fox is also planning to hand Chronicle director Josh Trank the reins to its other superhero franchise, Fantastic Four, Deadline reports. Rupert Wyatt will also return for a follow-up to this year's sci-fi reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes.