'The Wolverine' starts filming in August

It almost seemed like some form of karmic justice. After the terrible X-men Origins: Wolverine, 20th Century Fox was having a Hell of a time putting together the sequel, titled simply The Wolverine. Hugh Jackman would of course return as the feral, Canadian mutant, with Darren Aronofsky(Black Swan) as director. Unfortunately, Aronofsky had to drop out due to personal reasons, setting the production a little ways. Then there was this whole earthquake and tsunami thing that continues to have long lasting effects in Japan, where the film would primarily be shot, causing further delays. Not to mention Jackman had commitments to Tom Hooper's Les Miserables. Just one thing after another, although the tide started to turn in the right direction with James Mangold(3:10 to Yuma) coming on board.

Now after all the headaches and missed start dates, Jackman has taken to Twitter to reveal that filming will finally begin this August. Staging would take place in Sydney, Australia, with principle photography in Japan, and as previously reported will feature a mostly Japanese cast. The story was written by Christopher McQuarrie, with a recent draft by Mark Bomback, and will be based on the classic Chris Claremont/Frank Miller run which had Wolverine in Japan fighting for the honor of himself and the woman he loves. We've also learned that The Silver Samurai will be his nemesis in the story.

This one will probably take a lot of post-production, so I'll be surprised if it can hit the target release date of July 26th 2013. My fingers crossed.