Upon its initial release back in February, critics were eager to call "Logan" a new, more serious take on the superhero film genre. Even outside the comic-book realm, The A.V. Club called the movie "a surprisingly poignant drama" and the Village Voice said the film took the X-MEN "franchise to a spare, sad, apocalyptic finish".

So fittingly, the final cinematic appearance of Wolverine will be coming back to theaters with a more serious look -- a stark, re-cut, black-and-white action film.

Director re-edited original to better suit black & white cinema

In a Twitter post on Friday, April 28th, the movie's director James Mangold told fans of "Logan" to clear their schedules for a May 16th release before going on to answer user questions about the re-release.

There have been conflicting reports as to whether the film will only screen for a single day on May 16th, or begin a limited run beginning that day.

The black-and-white version of the third and final Wolverine movie is said to have been completely regraded and re-timed "shot by shot" to better achieve a classic appearance that differs greatly from the full-color, digital Movies that fans have come to know and love. According to Mangold, the new edit will only be shown in U.S.

theaters as of May 16th but will be available to all viewers when the original cut is released on DVD and Blu-Ray the following week.

Move comes in the footsteps of black & chrome 'Mad Max' in 2016

Since earning $604 million worldwide, including $223 million in the United States alone, there has been much speculation online that studio executives would be searching for a way to make additional money from a theatrical re-release of the movie.

Especially after the success of a black-and-white limited release of "Mad Max: Fury Road -- Black and Chrome Edition" in the fall of 2016, many fans suspected "Logan" would see its own monochrome version.

Now that Mangold has finished his re-edit of "Logan" it seems he will be returning to his roots, directing "The Force", based on Don Winslow's much-anticipated forthcoming police novel.

(Mangold began his directing career at the helm of Sylvester Stallone's "Cop Land" in 1995.) "The Force" has been called "The Godfather', only with cops. It's that good." by Stephen King. While there has been no official release, viewers can assume that film will be available only in color.

There has been no official word from the studios behind "Logan", 20th Century Fox or Marvel Entertainment, about the May film release or any work on a black-and-white version of the movie.
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