X-Men: The Last Stand is the third film adaptation of the Marvel Comics' X-Men superhero comic books, following X-Men (2000) and X2: X-Men United (2003). It was directed by Brett Ratner, who took over when Bryan Singer dropped out to direct Superman Returns. The movie revolves around a "mutant cure" that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans, and on the mysterious resurrection of Jean Grey, who appeared to have died in X2. The film is loosely based on two X-Men comic book story arcs: writer Chris Claremont's and artist John Byrne's "Dark Phoenix Saga" in The Uncanny X-Men (1980) and writer Joss Whedon's and artist John Cassaday's six-issue "Gifted" arc in Astonishing X-Men (2004).
The film was released May 26, 2006 in the United States and Canada, and one or two days earlier in approximately 22 other countries. Despite mixed reviews from critics and fans of the comic book series, the film did extremely well at the box office. Its opening-day gross of $45.5 million is the fourth-highest on record while its opening weekend gross of $103 million is the fifth highest ever.
The film is sometimes colloquially referred to as X3, XIII, X-Men 3, or X-Men 3: The Last Stand.
Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men films, left the project during preproduction in order to direct the film Superman Returns. He was joined by X2 screenwriters Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty and composer / editor John Ottman. Though Singer, Harris and Dougherty had yet to complete a script, the director has revealed that at the time of his departure they had partially completed a story treatment for the film which would have focused exclusively on Jean Grey's resurrection with the new villain Emma Frost, a role intended for Sigourney Weaver.
Simon Kinberg was hired as writer soon after Singer's departure, and speculation arose to Joss Whedon directing the film. Rob Bowman and Alex Proyas were also rumoured, though the latter personally turned it down. Zack Snyder was also approached, though he turned it down due to his commitment to 300. Despite the controversy over Singer's departure, the cast and producers were still clearly keen to return. Matthew Vaughn was hired as the new director for the project. He cast Kelsey Grammer as Beast and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, but family issues reportedly led him to withdraw before shooting began. Vaughn was replaced by Singer's friend Brett Ratner, who was among those originally considered to direct the first film — and coincidentally was considered by Warner Brothers to direct the 2006 Superman project before it evolved into Superman Returns.
X-Men: The Last Stand began shooting in August 2005 and ended in January 2006. Much of X-Men: The Last Stand was filmed in Vancouver, Canada. According to associate producer Dave Gordon, "This is the biggest production ever filmed in Canada. It used to be X2, now it's X3."Wikipedia
,_2006.jpg "X-Men 3 - The Last Stand (X3), 2006")