Dark Phoenix: Has Fox Shelved The Upcoming X-Men Movie? Here's The Truth!
Both the X-Men movies are releasing as per their new release dates.
X-Men may not enjoy the same fanfare as Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though the heroes share the same creators, but they are popular nevertheless. So it came as a shocker for all superhero movie fans when it was rumoured that 20th Century Fox, the production house backing the franchise, has shelved the upcoming X-Men canon movie, Dark Phoenix. Not just this one, even the spin-off The New Mutants was looking to face the axe as well.
While the news felt unbelievable considering how big these movies were, there were enough hints that this could have been a possibility. Dark Phoenix was to follow up on X-Men: Apocalypse, which is considered as one of the weakest X-Men movies, with Simon Kinberg making his directorial debut with the movie. However, the movie's release date got pushed from on November 2, 2018, to February 19, 2019. There were also unconfirmed reports that Dark Phoenix faced poor response during test screenings, prompting major reshoots (the latter part is true).
The New Mutants' case is far more interesting. The spin-off, featuring Split's Anya Taylor-Joy, Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams and Stranger Things' Charlie Heaton, was scheduled to release in April this year, but got pushed to August 2, 2019, more than a year ahead! This, despite the fact, that they had already released the teaser nine months back.
In the case of both the films, it was speculated that the studio executives were not happy with what has been shot till now, and therefore pushed the release date, to shape up the movies as per their wishes. But then, the latest rumour was that the studio has cancelled the movies, or plan to release them later on a streaming platform. This was in wake of the Disney-Fox merger.
However, as per a report in ComicBook.com, both the X-Men movies are releasing as per their new release dates. The source of their information is IMAX's upcoming slate for 2019, which confirms there is no change to the release dates. However, to add to this news, there has been no official confirmation from Fox on this; but then they haven't also confirmed on cancelling Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants either.
Talking more about Dark Phoenix, the movie will continue from the events of X-Men: Apocalypse and will be set in the '90s. Old cast members like Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Evan Peters (QuickSilver), Tyler Sheridan (Cyclops), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey/Phoenix), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast) will return. Academy Award-nominated actress Jessica Chastain will play the main antagonist.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 30, 2018 11:24 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).