X3 Doomed to Fail?

Okay. Let's start this one off by asking a few questions of the executives at Fox. In general, “What the F are you trying to do to this franchise?” Specifically:

• Why put a first time director (okay, first time on this scale) at the helm? Yeah, Layer Cake looks entertaining, good even, but it ain't in the X-series leagues.
• Couldn't you have begged, paid a few million to, or otherwise convinced Singer to stay on board? (Anyone else remember what happened last time a good director got separated from a superhero franchise?)
• Kelsey Grammer as the Beast? (yeah, I'm familiar with the character, and didn't know who Jackman was prior to X1, but I still can't see the hack pulling off the role--convince me in comments if you feel otherwise)

Sorry guys, but this one is starting to stink. I'll keep my hopes up that Uwe's name stays off the director list--that would sink it for sure.