REPORT: Abuse Allegations Could Keep Bryan Singer From Directing 'X-Men: Apocalypse'

Here at Popculturology, we don't like to wade into abuse allegations and celebrity gossip too often, but when a lawsuit could keep the director of a blockbuster from coming back to helm its sequel, we kind of have to cover it.

After delivering the critically acclaimed X-Men: Days of Future Past, which is already the third highest grossing X-Men movie and which also restored fans' faith in the franchise, you'd think bringing back Bryan Singer to direct X-Men: Apocalypse would be a no-brainer. Recent allegations of sexual abuse and the lawsuit accompanying those allegations could cause Fox to pull Singer off the project, reports Radar Online.

According to an insider, Singer, 48, is squaring off with 20th Century Fox over the implications of the sex abuse case and whether or not he should still direct the sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past.

“Fox isn’t confident in it not heavily impacting production,” the source said.

“Bryan’s lawyers are going nuts because the deal was closed months ago.”

Singer’s legal team has provided Fox with proof that the lawsuits are fiction, the source claims, but it’s money that’s the issue.

“They don’t really care whether he’s innocent or guilty — they’re only concerned with the bottom line, which is giving him another $250 to $350 million to make Apocalypse. There have been talks about who else he’d let direct it, with him producing, but those led to heated arguments and walk outs,” the source revealed.

If you want to know more about the details of the allegations and lawsuit, head over to Radar's article. We're not going to go in detail here. We're just going to follow this on a purely "how does this impact X-Men: Apocalypse" level. Fox has a valid concern when it comes to whether or not Singer could get pulled away from the project. The studio has already set a May 27, 2016, release date for Apocalypse, which doesn't leave much wiggle room.

If Singer doesn't direct the movie, who would Fox turn to? The last time Singer stepped away from the X-Men franchise, Fox picked Brett Ratner. Thanks to that move, we got X-Men: The Last Stand, a movie widely despised by X-Men fans. After Days of Future Past did so much to wipe out Ratner's contribution to the franchise, there's no way Fox would make that mistake again.

Based on Fox's selection of Josh Trank to direct the Fantastic Four reboot (who's also going to direct a Star Wars spinoff), the studio would hopefully pick an up-and-coming director to handle Apocalypse if Singer doesn't.

In order to hit that May 2016 release date, Fox and Singer are going to have to sort this issue out soon.