In the X-Men comics, the Phoenix Force is nigh-unstoppable, but it can be delayed, with great effort. That appears to be the case in the real world, as Fox has moved back the release date for X-Men: Dark Phoenix and pushed-back the premiere of The New Mutants as well, the studio announced on Monday morning.
Dark Phoenix, the latest movie in the X-Men series that kicked off with First Class in 2011, will now open on February 14, 2019, rather than its original premiere date of November 2 of this year. The New Mutants, a take on the X-Men that’s more of a horror movie than a superhero flick, has already had its premiere date pushed back once. Originally, it was meant to open in theaters next month, on April 13, but Fox moved that date moved back 10 months to February 2019. On Monday, though, Fox gave the film a third release date of August 2, 2019, presumably to give Dark Phoenix some room to breathe now that it’s opening in February.
No specific reason was given for why the films are opening later than expected. The New Mutants already seems pretty troubled, but Dark Phoenix would’ve been another major superhero movie in a year already packed with them. So far, 2018 has seen the release of Black Panther, with films like Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Aquaman still to come. It’s possible the Fox pushed the Dark Phoenix release date back while the Disney gets its ducks in a row regarding the recent merger (don’t expect to see Captain America pop up in Dark Phoenix, though).
Deadpool’s creator, comic writer/artist Rob Liefeld, who it should be noted has no direct info about the situation, nevertheless has a pretty good theory about why Dark Phoneix has been delayed. “Sophie Turner is currently shooting the last season of Game Of Thrones, he tweeted. “She is the star of Dark Phoenix. Presumably, she is not available for any reshoots for awhile. That’s just math.”
For Marvel fans looking for an X-Men fix, this means that Deadpool 2, which is still coming out on May 18, 2018, will have to do. Heck, the Merc With a Mouth might even make a joke about how his Mutant friends are so late to the party.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix opens on Valentines Day, 2018, while The New Mutants hits theaters on August 2, 2018.
