Post-Deadpool 2, if you were excited about the next chapters in the Fox-led corner of the Marvel Universe, you’re going to have to wait a little longer as both the Josh Boone-directed The New Mutants and the Simon Kinberg-helmed X-Men: Dark Phoenix are both being pushed further into the future.

The New Mutants had already been delayed into 2019, having originally been scheduled to come out in 2.5 weeks from now. Thanks to additional shooting that was apparently aimed at amping up the horror-vibe that permeated its initial trailer into the film proper, and adding another character. But now it’s being pushed back even further and will now come out on August 2, 2019.

Whereas Dark Phoenix is leaving this year’s November frame and will instead be released on February 22, 2019.

Both of these moves are part of a larger late night shuffle that the studio announced late last night under the cover of darkness. It also affects movies like Bohemian Rhapsody and the new James Mangold project The Force. But it does lead one to wonder what trouble might be afoot with Dark Phoenix, which seemed to be chugging along fairly drama-free. It’s Simon Kinberg’s directorial debut though, so much like we learned with Pacific Rim: Uprising, drama-free doesn’t mean much.

On the New Mutants front, given the timing of the release, there’s some speculation that film might forgo theatrical release altogether and instead wind up as one of the first original releases on Disney’s new streaming service, provided all sales details are finalized. But that’s nothing but idle speculation at this point.

A year that once looked pretty X-Men heavy, with three features to its name, will now instead only have Deadpool to play with. Interesting times.

10 COMMENTS

  1. Despite the fiasco of X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, I hope Fox holds onto the mutant franchise for as long as possible. You’re not going to see R-rated movies like LOGAN or DEADPOOL when Disney takes over.

  2. I don’t know much about movie scheduling and profitability but maybe Dark Phoenix will do better in that slot? For various reasons, like Logan and even Black Panther perfprming better. Considering people’s ill feeling to Apocalypse, how do you escape an effect similar to BvS upon JL (although probably object to Snyder’s interpretations more). Probably reading too much into it; probably just necessary production time.

    I’ll comment here about DP2 trailer and just how much I laughed at the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants being ‘pure pornography’, as a gag about university-educated critics. Laughing at self; it’s good. Smart 4th wall writing bodes well, (and the boy fron Hunt for the Widerpeople too.

    Glad you’re back doing movie news, Kyle, as another source of info to listen to. Only go see blockbusters at the cinema and wait for home release on others. Can’t discuss most movies cos won’t seeing them for six months, but good to know the next Mangold film to look out for.

  3. Thanks Kaleb! The day job tends to eat up more and more of my time, but now that I’m out of my busiest travel month of the year, I should be able to man that part of the ship a little more frequently. Happy to have you guys aboard!

  4. Sure seems odd the x-movies are pushed into a time when the Fox/Disney deal should be completed. Makes me wonder if these may not even see the light of day or get a direct to digital or limited releases. Marvel Studios said 2020 would be the first time the FF or X-Men would come to the MCU and it would seem odd to reboot the property a year after the last releases. Interesting times ahead indeed.

  5. And maybe depressing times ahead. Some tidbits from Ben Fritz’s new book, “The Big Picture.”

    “Disney isn’t in the movie business,” Fritz writes. “It’s in the Disney brands business. Movies are meant to serve those brands. Not the other way around.”

    Per The Big Picture, Disney’s secret to success has meant “slashing the number of movies made per year by two thirds” and “largely abandoning any type of film that costs less than $100 million” or “is based on an original idea, or appeals to any group smaller than all the moviegoers around the globe.”

    Fritz sums up: “Disney doesn’t make dramas for adults. It doesn’t make thrillers. It doesn’t make romantic comedies. It doesn’t make bawdy comedies. It doesn’t make horror movies. It doesn’t make star vehicles. It doesn’t adapt novels. It doesn’t buy original scripts. It doesn’t buy anything at film festivals. It doesn’t make anything political or controversial. It doesn’t make anything with an R rating. It doesn’t give award-winning directors … wide latitude to pursue their visions.”

    A great adult drama like Michael Mann’s THE INSIDER, which Disney produced in 1999, is unthinkable under the current Disney regime.

  6. My guess is that NEW MUTANTS will make its debut on one of Disney’s new streaming services. A theatrical release is looking iffy.

    If X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX, a movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, goes straight to streaming, it will be quite a comment on the current unimportance of movie stars (another theme of “The Big Picture”).

  7. People now pay to see franchise characters, not actors. Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans are stars when they’re playing Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Their other movies come and go without much notice.

    I think of Lawrence as the last movie star. But after the disappointing box-office of MOTHER! (a good movie) and RED SPARROW (a bad movie), looks like even she might only draw in familiar franchises.

    I remember the ’90s, when people lined up to see anything — and I mean anything — with Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford or Julia Roberts. That time seems a hundred years ago.

  8. “That may also be an answer for why no one tunes in to the Academy Awards anymore.”

    The usual answer is that the nominees are dominated by indie films that Joe and Jane Sixpack haven’t heard of, let alone seen. So they have nothing to root for.

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