Springtime for Wolverine?

Well, I guess that shoots down any chance of finally seeing that Wolverine sequel in 2012...not that it was very likely to begin with.

According to Deadline, 20th Century Fox may be pushing the production start date of The Wolverine to the spring of 2012. It was widely believed (although the studio insists it was never confirmed) that the sequel, which was delayed last spring after the departure of director Darren Aronofsky and the tragic earthquake in Japan, was finally scheduled to begin production in October under the direction of James Mangold. Hugh Jackman confirmed this same information to fans while promoting Real Steel at Comic-Con last month, and as recently as last week, the Vancouver Sun reported that Wolverine and crew would be in town to work on the sequel starting in November.

Alas, that appears not to be the case. According to the Deadline report - which, keep in mind, is not yet 'official' - studio insiders say that location scouting in post-earthquake Japan has been difficult, so that's caused delays,, and it's even possible that The Wolverine may be filmed entirely in Canada. Not the ideal situation, considering the whole point of the sequel was to have Wolverine go to Japan, but unfortunately nature sometimes gets the final say in these things.

There's another scheduling conflict to worry about: Jackman is also set to star as Jean Valjean in the upcoming movie adaptation of the musical Les Miserables, which is reportedly set to start filming in February. So now The Wolverine may have to wait until Jackman has completed work on that film first.

Honestly, as big of a Wolverine fan that I am, if Hugh had to give up Les Miserables for The Wolverine, I would probably burn of all of my Wolverine comics. OK, maybe not all of them (definitely a few of the Origins issues though, just on principle)...but as Les Miserables is my favorite musical and I am beyond excited to see Hugh as Valjean, I'm fine with them having to work around his schedule as far as that film is concerned.

But hopefully we will get to see The Wolverine before Jackman becomes old enough to play Old Man Logan.