Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like The Wolverine is back on track. After Darren Aronofsky dropped out as director, and natural disasters ravaged Japan (the desired shooting location) it looked like Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine sequel might be delayed for quite some time. After an extensive director search, James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma) was hired to helm the project, and now speaking with Toronto radio station CHFI (via The Playlist), Jackman stated that filming will commence this October:

“We shoot in October, so it will probably come out a year after that. That’s usually around the timeline.”

So not only is the film shooting this year, it may even hit theaters in 2012. Jackman also told the radio station that director Tom Hooper’s (The King’s Speech) big-budget musical adaptation of Les Miserables won’t shoot until next year. Hit the jump for more.

It’s still unknown whether the plan remains to shoot on location in Japan, where Christopher McQuarrie’s script takes place. When Jackman gave an update in March, he said it was still too early to tell regarding the Japan situation. While the actor sounds hopeful, I’d be surprised if The Wolverine actually makes a 2012 release date, given that it’s most likely fairly VFX-heavy. I’d much rather Mangold and Fox take their time to make the film right, rather than rushing a less-than-great version of The Wolverine just to get it into theaters next year.

Jackman signed on to Les Miserables earlier this month, and he’s poised to take on the role of Jean Valjean, with Paul Bettany in negotiations to play the nefarious Javert. Hooper is coming off of a Best Director and Best Picture win with The King’s Speech, so it’ll be interesting to see how he handles a large-scale musical.