In what’s definitely a sign of a healthy, well-directed movie smoothly sailing through production, X-Men: Dark Phoenix has been delayed once more and is now targeting a June 7th, 2019 release. Originally intended to premiere on November 2nd, 2018, production woes and disastrous test screenings (they went so badly that there were reports Fox was ready to cancel the whole affair) meant that first time director Simon Kinberg and the cast began extensive reshoots heading for a February 14th, 2019 release.
This delay is going to get eyebrows raising throughout the industry, partly because it’s more fuel to the fire that Dark Phoenix is going seriously awry behind the scenes and partly because it now means that the film’s coming out smack in the middle of blockbuster season and will be competing with Avengers 4. Add to that the looming spectre of Fox’s superhero IP being purchased by Disney and you’d be forgiven for thinking this might spell doom for what will be the final installment in the X-Men franchise as we know it.
But that’s not all…
The June 7th release date was, theoretically, occupied by the Channing Tatum-led Gambit. That film’s been stuck in development hell for years though, gaining and losing directors even as the bankable Tatum presses Fox to get it before cameras. Now, with Dark Phoenix taking its June date, the spinoff has been moved to March 13th, 2020, by which time we’ll probably be seeing mutants in the MCU. My bet is that this will either be officially cancelled once the Disney deal goes through, or that there’s a slim chance that it’ll be retooled as a Marvel Studios movie.
Whatever the case, I’d love to be a fly on the wall at Fox right now. All this, plus the bizarre to and fro on The New Mutants can only be summarized in one word: clusterfuck.
