While superhero fans have an abundance of new films to enjoy nowadays compared to the past, a surprising batch of bad news has arrived, and they’re going to have to wait longer than expected for a couple of eagerly anticipated Fox releases.
The studio has pushed back X-Men: Dark Phoenix from its Friday, November 2 release date and push it into next year, where it will now hit cinemas on February 14, 2019. If that seems oddly close to the release of The New Mutants, then here’s the real kicker: Fox has pushed back Josh Boone‘s film for a second time, and it will now finally arrive on August 2, 2019.
Considering the film was originally supposed to hit cinemas on Friday, April 13 of this year, it’s a quite staggering delay for a film that had plenty of fans salivating at the mouth when its original trailer dropped late last year.
Coming off the R-rated successes of Deadpool and Logan, one would think Fox would want to capitalise on another genre-bending superhero entry ASAP, but the studio originally pulled the movie from its April 2018 release date for more reshoots and to further tweak its tone.
If it is indeed the full blown horror film that original trailer implied, then August is a better fit for the film, but that won’t quell the disappointment of X-Men fans much right now, who now have to wait an extra 16 months for the movie than originally expected.
Dark Phoenix is expected to mark a change in the X-Men franchise, and will introduce Jessica Chastain as Lilandra, with series writer/producer Simon Kinberg both writing and directing the follow up to X-Men: Apocalypse. After the slight disappointment of that film, expectations were high for a bounce back entry with a different take on the material.
We’ll now all have to wait a little longer to see what Kinberg and his new star can do. The new February release date is close to another superhero movie, Sony’s Silver & Black, as well as The LEGO Movie Sequel. With Dark Phoenix and its likely box office power now settling into its February slot, expect one or both of those release dates to be changed.
Fans of Fox’s X-Men universe will naturally be disappointed by these delays, but don’t worry too much, you at least have Deadpool 2 to look forward to, which hits cinemas Friday, May 18.
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