Yea they literally did kill the franchise. I've read several times on comic forums and mags that those three are like the Heart (Jean), Mind (Xavier), and Soul(Cyclops) of the X-Men. I really agree, IMO the best X Storylines revolve around Cyke and Jean.
Cyclops dying has been known forever, but pretty much confirmed to skeptics in the first trailer. I doubt his death will have any significance to the movie either. I guess thats what he gets for going with Singer and deciding to bang Superman's woman instead.
Prof X dying took me by surprise. But hey, if they're gonna kill off the franchise, might as well go off with a bang. When I saw the empty wheelchair in the trailer, I thought about the possibility and said "nooo they would never do that". But then in the later trailers, if shows Jean in front of him in the wheelchair then Patrick Stewart gave an interview confirming it.
Jean, yea I had a feeling she would die too. After finding out she kills Cyke and Xavier, there would be no way for her to redeem herself. So when she dies I'm guessing they kill her for the good of mankind or she goes super nova and disintergrates.
The whole movie will be good eye candy but everyone will walk away pissed. It feels like they just tossed in all the characters people wanted to see (except Gambit) and tossed in Sentinels. I would have like to seen a movie centered around Jean's revival, let the Cyclops character grow by having Havok come and comfort him. Then Havok having a spat with Cyclops, wanting to kill Jean. Then while the X-Men are trying to find a solution for Jean, Magneto/Havok/the Brotherhood are out to kill Jean, while the Sentinels are trying to kill everyone. The movie would end with Jean destroying Master Mold by exhausting her power and returning to normal. The X-Men and Brotherhood would at odds but for now they can live to fight another day. Sometime during a huge final battle Angel is kidnapped by who is revealed to be Apocalypse (maybe even Mr Sinister to make a simpler villain) to set up X4.