XMF can exclusively announce that Rising Sun Pictures will be working on an unspecified amount of visual effects for X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE!  The company (which is located in Australia) has an impressive resume:

The Harry Potter franchise, Blood Diamond, Superman Returns, Batman Begins, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and more!

Thanks to X-Effect!

Though WOLVERINE does focus on the solo tale of Logan (played by Hugh Jackman), a source from inside pre production tells XMF exclusively that this upcoming May 1, 2009 film will “be just as ambitious as any previous X-Men flick.”

“Going by the pre-vis work, it’s my belief that this tale will be just as big as the other films” says the source. “The general consensus is to make this the next chapter in a franchise, and with any continuing film in a franchise, you want to make things better.”

Light spoilers regarding an action piece that will be filmed in Central Otago, New Zealand in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. If you wanna know what the scene involves, click here!

Thanks JC!

Update: Along with Vaderbilt, writer Scott Silver has also been working on polishing the script, which will be ready to go for the May 1, 2009 film!

James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, The Rundown) is ‘flipping’ the current X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE script by David Benioff in order to make the script filmable by studio standards, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Many studios are rushing the completion of ready-to-go scripts in order to beat the upcoming Writers Guild of America strikes.

Composer Harry Gregson-Williams is set to create music for 20th Century Fox’s X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE according to The Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency. His previous work includes ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ franchise, ‘Gone Baby Gone’, ‘Deja Vu’ and ‘Shrek the Third’.

Thanks to SHH for the heads up!

1). The Morning Herald reports that New Zealand actor Aaron Jeffery has screen tested for the role of Wolverine’s brother in the upcoming spin-off film (say what???).

2). Could the possible upcoming Writers Guild, Screen Actors Guild, and Directors Guild strikes late next year be the reason for 20th Century Fox moving X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE to 2009? While it’s only speculation on our part, you might want to check out this artical via Entertainment Weekly. Studios are quickly putting films into production due to there possibly being a lack of releases in 2009.

3). Australian actor Brendan Cowell recently auditioned for a mutant role in the Hugh Jackman spinoff film, according to Top Shelf Radio.

4). Stuff.co.nz confirms what XMF first told our visitors; that some filming for the May 1, 2009 film will take place in New Zealand around Queenstown and Central Otago for four weeks beginning in late December. Main filming will take place at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.

Thanks AD, Retroman, and Narrows.

WOLVERINE will have a new costume designer for his first solo adventure! We can reveal exclusively that Kym Barrett has joined the crew of the much anticipated spin-off.

This isn’t her first brush with the genre, having worked on early aborted adaptions of ‘Superman’ and ‘Watchmen’ in the past few years.

Born in Brisbane, Australia, Barrett has enjoyed a long and creative collaboration with the Wachowski brothers. Together they’ve worked on the blockbuster ‘Matrix’ series and the upcoming Speed Racer. Her other costume design credits cover a wide range of feature films for some of the industry’s most acclaimed filmakers, including Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, Three Kings, Eragon, and Gothika starring Halle Berry.

XMF has also been told that producers are looking at Queenstown, New Zealand as a possible location to shoot around November/ December.

Thanks to X-Effect!