Earlier this week it was announced that 20th Century Fox had pushed back the release date of two of its X-Men movies, with X-Men: Dark Phoenix now opening on February 14th 2019 rather than November 2nd 2018, and The New Mutants moving from February 2019 to August 2nd 2019 (the latter having already been moved from April 2018).
Rumours soon emerged that Fox and director Josh Boone are having “creative differences” on The New Mutants and that the project will be “overhauled”, with up to 50% of the movie set to be reshot and several new characters added to the roster of the spinoff.
Now it seems we have some details about the delay to Dark Phoenix, with Collider reporting that the film recently held a test screening, which identified that some additional photography was required. However, given its cast, it proved impossible to schedule said reshoots until August and September of this year and that the studio decided to move back the release to allow adequate time for the VFX and post-production.
SEE ALSO: Tye Sheridan says X-Men: Dark Phoenix is more drama than superhero movie
THR also provides some additional details on the reshoots, revealing that the third act of the film requires some reworking, but it is expected that the reshoots will cost less than $10 million. Simon Kinberg, who is making his directorial debut on the movie, is set to write the additional material, and he is also said to have brought the project in under budget during principal photography. Kinberg has also reportedly been keen to move back the release date for some time, as he wanted to move it away from Disney’s Nutcracker and the Four Realms.
So, it sounds like some reassuring news for X-Men fans, at least on the Dark Phoenix front.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is set for release on February 14th 2019 and sees Simon Kinberg directing a cast that includes franchise veterans Michael Fassbender (Magneto), James McAvoy (Professor X), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) and Evan Peters (Quicksilver) alongside new additions Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game) and Lamar Johnson (Kings).
