With “Dark Phoenix,” writer and director Simon Kinberg wanted to move away from the campy scenes of the previous film, “X-Men: Apocalypse,” to create a smaller, more personal film. “[‘Dark Phoenix’ was] Big for the off-season, too small for summer,” an unnamed Fox insider told THR. Thus, the film was originally set for a November 2, 2018 premiere, then pushed back to February 14, 2019 for reshoots. A According to the scoop from Collider, the earliest Kinberg could reunite his cast was September 2018, which would have left insufficient time for post-production. Thus, a delay of several months.
Meanwhile, James Cameron’s passion project “Alita: Battle Angel” was also on the horizon. Cameron, a fan of Yukito Kishiro’s source material manga “Gunum,” had been trying to get the movie made since 2000. He eventually relinquished directing duties to Robert Rodriguez so he could focus on the “Avatar” films, but he relinquished directing duties to Robert Rodriguez. A producer and obviously still invested in the film’s success.
Initially planned for July 20, 2018, “Alita” was pushed back to December 21, 2018 (confirmed in February 2018). With this move, Cameron saw his child headed for slaughter. Released in December, it will face “Aquaman,” “Bumblebee,” and “Mary Poppins Returns” — compared to this triple threat, “Alita” had no name recognition and fell through the cracks. So, Cameron contacted then-CEO and Chairman of 20th Century Fox, Stacy Snyder, and asked him to delay “Alita” again until February. This would have the domino effect of pushing “Dark Phoenix” into the summer.
Over the objections of Kinberg, then-production president Emma Watts, and “Dark Phoenix” producer Hutch Parker, Snyder agreed to Cameron’s lobbying. The schedule changes were released to the public in September 2018.
