X-Men: Dark Phoenix may or may not be in big trouble. There’ve been persistent rumors that Fox is extremely unhappy with the cut director Simon Kinberg turned in, mandating extensive reshoots including a whole new third act (some even claim the entire film’s being reshot).
Originally scheduled to release in November, the pic’s been delayed until 2019 and for a while, many were convinced that the project was on the verge of being canned for good. Given that they’ve embarked on those reshoots, it seems that the doomsday scenario for the movie isn’t going to come to pass, but it still leaves Dark Phoenix with a big, ominous question mark hanging over it.
Now, in a clear indication from Kinberg that those reshoots are underway, he’s shared a photo on his Instagram account. Sadly, this does not show everyone’s favorite mutants in costume using their mind-blowing powers to battle evil. Nope, instead, it’s a picture of a chair that reads “Jean Grey.” You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out that this is probably Sophie Turner’s chair, who plays Jean in the film. But if it’s her chair, then where is she? No doubt flying through the air on wires while on fire just out of shot – that’s where.
With Dark Phoenix probably the last hurrah for the cinematic X-Universe that made its debut with Bryan Singer’s X-Men (though the Deadpool limb of the tree should also get to finish its trilogy with X-Force), all eyes are on it to ensure it lives up the standards set by X2: X-Men United and Days of Future Past and doesn’t end up a stinker like X-Men 3: The Last Stand or X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Following this, we’ll most likely next see the gang turning up in the MCU, with Disney’s acquisition of Fox doing what Magneto, Apocalypse and Stryker never could and killing off this particular take on Charles Xavier’s mutants.
