X-Men: Dark Phoenix Undergoing Reshoots After Delay

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is back in the shop for repairs.

Fans of Fox's X-Men movies and related spinoffs scratched their heads yesterday as news spread that the studio was significantly delaying the release of its upcoming movies The New Mutants and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The spinoff and the sequel, both originally set for release this year, will now see release in 2019, with Dark Phoenix landing in February of next year.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie, now in post-production, will undergo reshoots with the specific aim of fixing problems with the movie's third act.

The reshoots themselves are not necessarily a sign of trouble, as most major productions undergo additional photography to pick up footage that was missed the first time around, or fill gaps for an edit. But the movie will also undergo a rewrite, with writer-director Simon Kinberg set to rework the script before the shooting begins.'

THR reports that the reshoots are expected to cost under $10 million, taking place in either the late summer or early fall. Production on the film itself reportedly went smoothly, with the film's first cut coming in under budget.

Kinberg, a longtime associate of the X-Men franchise who has a writing credit on 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, has taken on Dark Phoenix as his directorial debut. He has been a producer on every X-Men movie or spinoff since First Class, and is also an executive producer on the TV series Legion and The Gifted.

One rumor regarding the unexplained delays chalked them up to the Disney-Fox merger currently in progress, marking the films as casualties of corporate maneuvering. That seems to have now been debunked, with New Mutants and Dark Phoenix's tandem delays being more coincidence than indicative of a scheme to debut the movies on Disney's upcoming streaming service, as some imagined.

The next X-Men spinoff set to hit theaters is Deadpool 2, coming out May 18. Check out the trailer for that irreverent sequel right now.