Report Claims X-Men: Dark Phoenix Was Initially Written as Two Movies

Dark Phoenix is one of the worst reviewed movies of the franchise, but there may be a reason for that. According to a new report from Deadline, Dark Phoenix was originally supposed to be spread over two different movies, not unlike Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or the setup between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. It was apparently written and setup as a two-parter until late in pre-production with the studio informed writer/director Simon Kinberg he'd get just one movie to tell the story.

If the script was ended up being overhauled that late, it'd explain why some critics have described the film as underwhelming and an unfitting conclusion for the decades-old franchise. In fact, it's the second time in a handful of movies the team has adapted Chris Claremont and John Byrne's classic X-Men story.

"In the end, Dark Phoenix is not the conclusion fans of the X-Men franchise might have been hoping for and it doesn't make much of an effort to tie every narrative thread into a nice bow as the franchise is probably coming to an end here," ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis wrote in his review. "It's a bit behind its time. Still, the movie is fun and safe movie for fans of the characters to watch in a theater with a bass-heavy sound system, and leaves the key characters well enough to remember them fondly."

As of this writing, Dark Phoenix has a less-than-stellar 24 percent Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has a more favorable response in the ComicBook.com User Ratings, where currently nearly has three out of five stars.

The movie has performed just as poorly at the box office, losing its debut weekend to The Secret Life of Pets 2, becoming the first film in the X-Men franchise to not open atop the box office in its opening weekend. After grossing just $32 million in its opening weekend, many industry experts think the film could end up losing between $100m and $120m when all is said and done.

What'd you think of Dark Phoenix? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Dark Phoenix is now in theaters while New Mutants is scheduled for release on August 2nd.