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Now that director Matthew "Is my career over before it really began?" Vaughn has vacated the X3 director's chair, AICN's "Drew McWeeney" Moriarity reports that Fox might be dropping a distressingly hacky bomb in the very near future:

So either we'll have X3 directed by John Moore, who did solid, sturdy jobs with both BEHIND ENEMY LINES and FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, or...... brace yourselves...

Oh, who are we trying to kid with the suspense? You've already read the headline and gazed upon the disturbing image of Brett Ratner rubbing his genitals on an attractive woman's bottom, an act of directorial precision far surpassing anything in the Rush Hour movies. Before you drop to your knees and wail a poignantly prolonged "Raaaatnnnneerrr!" to an ambivalent deity, try and see the bright side. It's always kind of fun when a gigantic movie franchise dramatically immolates, just like Batman did the instant Joel Schumacher crazy-glued some nipples on George Clooney. X3 is gonna be pretty awesome as a buddy movie starring Broken-English Wolverine and Wise-Crackin' Nightcrawler. It'll be so much fun that you won't even ask why Kelsey Grammer keeps bursting into flames.

And just for fun: It's not too hard to spot a pattern in Ratner's box office record.

UPDATE: We saw the rumor about Ratner's possible X3 disaster on Sorry I Got Drunk last night, then promptly ignored it. Then we saw the rumor on AICN and posted about it, figuring that Moriarity and a senior Fox official traded solid intel during a pillow fight. Looks like the Drunks were right, at least about the fact that there's a serious rumor in circulation.