Aronofsky to make really good movie... AFTER his next one

These days, every "auteur" director wants Christopher Nolan's deal; i.e. helm a big-budget studio tentpole - preferably a franchise, preferably action genre - and use the boxoffice clout to get the studio to pay for the projects you REALLY want to make.

Darren Aronofsky - currently riding a wave of positive buzz (which I think we're still pretending is soooo totally NOT at least partially due to the promise of Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis sex scene) for "Black Swan" - has been trying to get in on this racket for something like five or six years now, his named bandied about alongside Zack Snyder's for the "Superman" gig and even an active pursuit of an ill-advised "Robocop" remake awhile back. Now, apparently, Fox wants him on the "Wolverine" sequel. Joy.



Fox has been the universal fanboy punching-bag over the last decade of superhero movies, mostly owing to how badly "X-Men 3," "Wolverine," both "Fantastic Fours," "Daredevil," "Electra" and "Dragonball" turned out. But they've recently started making moves with their projects that sound uncharacteristically positive: Hiring the "Crank" guys to do "Ghost Rider 2" and letting Matthew Vaughn make a 1960s-set X-Men versus Hellfire Club movie, mainly.

Having Aronofsky try to salvage Wolverine after the stunning awful first one would seem to be another step in the right direction - but then none of these films have actually come out yet.