Given his track record with X-Men movies, it wasn't all that surprising when Matthew Vaughn dropped out of Days of Future Past, the sequel to his X-Men: First Class. (Way back when Vaughn pulled the same move on X-Men: The Last Stand, only to be replaced by Brett Ratner). But still, why the helmer left X-Men: Days of Future Past has remained unclear until now.

Who Will Direct X-Men: Days of Future Past?

Mark Millar, comics scribe and recent appointee as 20th Century Fox's Marvel movie guru, recently spoke to CBR and Vaughn's departure came up. Millar worked with the director on the first Kick-Ass film, of course, and they also have a project called Secret Service in the works now. It is that film, an adaptation of Millar and Dave Gibbons' comic, that the writer says led to Vaughn's leaving Days of Future Past.

"We thought Matthew was going to do X-Men first, but we found out there were actually a few imitators of Secret Service in the works," he says. "People think you're lying when you say you're not trying to get your comics made into movies so quickly, but the two reasons it happens like that is first because it's the best ad for the comic you'll ever have. And for me, selling the book is the most important thing. The second reason is because people are always trying to rip you off. Somebody will start to work on a spec screenplay about your idea. There are three other projects I know of now about a James Bond kind of guy taking a street kid and turning him into a spy. Three screenplays were already going through Hollywood about this! So Matthew and I said, 'F#@k this. We're not letting anyone steal our ideas.'"

If this is accurate, then it would also seem to do away with that rumor that Vaughn left X-Men because he's up for the much-coveted Episode VII directing job. I, for one, am bummed that he's not making Days of Future Past, but who knows -- maybe he's better off leaving his X-Men legacy as is with the great First Class.

Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN at scottcollura and on Facebook.

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The Oscar-winning co-writer of Pulp Fiction and the producer of the Silent Hill movies are teaming up to bring the classic video game Castle Wolfenstein to the big screen.

In an announcement made at the American Film Market (AFM), producer Samuel Hadida and Panorama Media said they've tapped Roger Avary (who also scripted the original Silent Hill movie for Hadida) to write and direct Castle Wolfenstein.The filmmaker had been attached to the project (then titled Return to Castle Wolfenstein) a few years ago before his prison sentence for gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving.

Here's the official boilerplate on the movie via today's press release: "Castle Wolfenstein is an action adventure film in the vein of Captain America and Inglourious Basterds.  The story follows a young US Army Captain and a British Special Agent on a top secret mission to Castle Wolfenstein, where Hitler will be for the unveiling of a new secret weapon.  After reaching the Castle, our heroes are confronted with Himmler’s SS Paranormal Division and must fight, not only for their survival, but for a mission that could alter the course of the War."

“With Roger at the helm, we expect everyone will join us for a wild and fun cinematic ride that will grab contemporary film audiences with the same irreverent, hip, over the top approach that Roger brought to Pulp Fiction and the other films he has either written or directed," said Hadida. "It is a big action adventure but also strongly character driven and based on a very solid story. ... The film involves a classic assault on the bad guys, who are nominally Nazis, more evocative of Inglourious Basterds than the actual World War II. It is a vaguely futuristic retro world as fun as Captain America, which has recently been reintroduced to the world audience with great success.”

Said Avary in a statement, “I’ve been playing the Wolfenstein games since I was a kid, and feel that their outlandish sensibility has deeply influenced my own writing and directing throughout my career.  I have always thought Wolfenstein, transformed and opened for the screen to wider audiences not familiar with the games, would be a major cinematic experience, which is why I introduced it to Samuel.  He bought the rights, and I could not be happier that we are now embarking on this adventure.”

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