Things are coming together for the next Wolverine movie. They have a director in James Mangold, Hugh Jackman is ready to go, and now the film has a start date. Expect The Wolverine to begin shooting in October, which probably means Fox aims to have it in theaters for 2012.

For a Fox movie that’s actually a pretty long production cycle, which suggests that they’re taking their time with this one and, hopefully, really trying to get it right this time. The last installment, X-Men Origins: Wolverine suffered from being rushed, among other problems.

The news of the film’s start date comes from a radio interview with Hugh Jackman on Toronto Radio through The Playlist. There Jackman says, “We shoot in October, so it will probably come out a year after that. That’s usually around the timeline.”

We’re still not entirely sure what it’s about. Originally it was supposed to take place in Japan and involve Samurai, but Japan’s tragedy derailed those plans for awhile. They could still do that storyline and shoot somewhere else I guess, or maybe they’re hoping things will calm down by the time they’re ready to shoot in October. Japan could certainly use the injection of cash, should the production choose to head over and spend its money there.

As for Hugh Jackman, he’s got a massive promotional tour for Real Steel to get out of the way before he can start work on anything. Before that you’ll be able to see him in a small role, as part of the upcoming movie Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, in theaters July 15th.