New Rumors Reveal Why ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ and ‘New Mutants’ Have Been Delayed
This morning we learned we’re going to have to wait a little longer to see the new X-Men movies. Simon Kinberg’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix was moved from this fall to next February, and Josh Boone’s The New Mutants got shuffled across Fox’s release calendar for the second time.
The release changes no doubt evoked some worries and questions: should we be concerned about the quality of these films, especially considering the drastic pushes of New Mutants, originally set to open this April? Or is this merely a result of the Disney merger, with Fox properties still seeming up-in-the-air until Disney details are figured out? A new set of rumors shines some light on the changes.
Collider shared some new intel this afternoon that suggests the delays are reportedly due to reshoots. According to their source, Dark Phoenix reshoots were requested after a recent test screening. That’s nothing unusual with big budget films of this nature, but the issue, apparently, is the film’s A-list cast. Kinberg’s film features X-Men returners Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, along with newcomer Jessica Chastain, and according to Collider, the soonest the studio could rally all those actors together for reshoots is August or September, leaving minimal time to meet the original November release deadline. Thus, the February 14, 2019 release gave them ample time to finish it up.
You wouldn’t be the only one worried when it comes to New Mutants, though. Boone was originally set to introduce his new generation of X-Men just a couple weeks from now. We got that (weird) trailer, motion posters, and everything. Then the film was bumped nearly a whole year to February 2019, reportedly for extensive reshoots that would add a new character. Now Collider’s source says those reshoots are even bigger, with nearly 50 percent of the movie (!) said to be reshot in order to make the horror-thriller scarier. And not one, but two new characters may be added to the film, and not simply in cameos; they’ll allegedly be present throughout the entirety of the movie.
Not enough of a mess yet? On top of that, Collider suggests Boone has been having “creative differences” with the studios over the reshoots. Never heard that one before! Will New Mutants ever actually open? Is it the Tulip Fever of the X-Men universe? *shudders* We’ll have to wait until August 2, 2019 to find out. That is, if it doesn’t get pushed again.
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