In sports, when a player is about to be traded to another team, the player in question sits on the bench to avoid injury. This could be the case for delays of X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants by 20th Century Fox.
The Dark Phoenix has been pushed to February 14, 2019, and The New Mutants has been pushed to August 2, 2019, according to a report by Deadline published Monday night. The move could mean two things: one, FOX has no confidence in these two films and is looking for a softer release date to recover some of the film budgets back; or two, Disney asked FOX to pushed the dates so the movies could be under the Marvel Cinematic Universe banner.
Disney is set to purchase 20th Century Fox for $52.4-billion, the deal is waiting for approvals from regulators in Washington and in other countries. The purchase should be finalized sometime in 2019.
The New Mutants could easily be reworked with little to no reshoots to fit in the MCU. All you have to do is watch a few episodes of Runaways, and it’s easy to see how you fit them in the universe. Since The New Mutants is a horror film with mutants, a quick mention of Tony Stark or the Super Soldier Serum is all that is needed to link the film.
The Dark Phoenix, on the other hand, would require some creativity and reshoots, but all that could happen at the end of the film. UPDATE: Dark Phoenix is in need of multiple weeks worth of reshoots to change significant story points in the film, according to a source via Comicbook.com.
Jean Grey is one of the most powerful mutants in the world; it is plausible that her powers are so great that Jean can alter the timeline and/or cross over into the MCU. The introduction of Cable in Deadpool 2 creates the ability to jump through time, and that introduces alternate timelines. Hence the MCU and the X-Men separate film universes.
The Scarlet Witch is the ultimate powerhouse who could alter reality with one word, but 20th Century Fox doesn’t have a version of her in the X-Men films, yet. Maybe Evan Peters can find his sister in Dark Phoenix.
Deadpool 2 could break the internet if it is revealed at the end Cable and Deadpool found the MCU.
Marvel Studios already has experience introducing a major character midway through a story arc and has no problem quickly rebooting a franchise. Spider-Man: Homecoming was well received by critics and fans.
Why do you think 20th Century Fox pushed back the two X-Men films? Comment below.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is written and directed by Simon Kinberg, stars Sophie Turner, Jennifer Lawrence, Tye Sheridan, Jessica Chastain, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Alexandra Shipp, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
The New Mutants is directed by Josh Boone, from a screenplay he and Knate Lee wrote. The film stars Anna Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Alice Braga, Charlie Heaton, Happy Anderson, Henry Zaga, Blu Hunt, and Colbi Gannett.
