X-Men: Dark Phoenix and X-verse spinoff The New Mutants have been delayed, Variety reports.
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Dark Phoenix has been pushed back from its November 2 release date to February 14, 2019. The New Mutants — which already shifted from its planned April 13, 2018 bow to February 22, 2019 — will now open August 2, 2019.
Freddy Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek as the iconic singer, takes Phoenix‘s November 2 release date. Fox tapped Dexter Fletcher to take over the project after the studio fired longtime X-Men franchise director and producer Bryan Singer in December.
Dark Phoenix is the latest installment out of the long running franchise based on the Marvel Comics property. A direct follow up to 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, Phoenix is helmed by franchise producer and first-time director Simon Kinberg.
The X-Men sequel marks Fox’s second adaptation of the famous John Byrne and Chris Claremont saga from the comics, which saw telepath Jean Grey (played here by Sophie Turner) possessed by an unwieldly cosmic force.
The sequel catches up with Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and his team of young mutant freedom fighters a decade after the events of Apocalypse, where the teenage superheroes barely fended off a world-threatening attack at the hands of a centuries old mutant (Oscar Isaac).
Dark Phoenix reunites stars Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler), and Evan Peters (Quicksilver).
Boarding the franchise is Jessica Chastain (The Martian, Molly’s Game), who joins as a shapeshifter known only as “Smith.”
It was originally believed Chastain would portray Lilandra — a princess belonging to the extraterrestrial race known as the Shi’ar and Charles Xavier’s once-lover — but the actress dispelled those rumors.
The New Mutants, directed by Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars), is a teen-centric and horror-inspired take on the X-Men franchise.
That film will star Anya Taylor-Joy as Magik, Maisie Williams as Wolfsbane, Charlie Heaton as Cannonball, Henry Zaga as Sunspot, Blu Hunt as Mirage and Alice Braga as Cecilia Reyes.
Fox also shuffled around two other future projects: the February 14, 2019 release date now occupied by Dark Phoenix ousted Joe Cornish’s The Kid Who Would Be King. That film will be released March 1, 2019, pushing out police thriller The Force.
Up next from the X-franchise is Deadpool 2, starring Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin, out May 18.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix opens February 14, 2019, followed by The New Mutants August 2, 2019.
