Here's Why 'X-Men: Dark Phoenix' And 'New Mutants' Were Delayed [UPDATED]

Update: The Hollywood Reporter has more details on the Dark Phoenix reshoots. It seems that the third act of the movie needs some work and the reshoots are expected to cost under $10 million.

Earlier today, news dropped that Fox was moving X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants all the way to 2019. We now have a clearer picture about why this happened, and what the future holds for these films. More on the Dark Phoenix and New Mutants delays below.

Fox moved X-Men: Dark Phoenix, originally scheduled for a November 2, 2018 release, to February 14, 2019. They also moved The New Mutants from February 2019 to August 2, 2019. This is the second move for New Mutants, which was originally set for an April 2018 release before being pushed to February.

Now, Collider has the inside story explaining why these X-movies were moved. The Dark Phoenix delays are due to scheduling conflicts for reshoots, but Fox allegedly wants almost 50% of New Mutants to be reshot.

Per Collider's source, X-Men: Dark Phoenix's move is, predictably, due to reshoots. After recent test screenings, the producers felt some additional photography was needed. Here's the problem: X-Men: Dark Phoenix has a rather high-profile cast. Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Sophie Turner and James McAvoy lead the film. Due to the busy schedules of the cast, scheduling reshoots isn't easy. The earliest director Simon Kinberg can get the gang back together again is August or September. That wouldn't leave enough time to finish the effects work to meet the original November release date. As a result, Dark Phoenix got bumped to February 2019. That doesn't sound particularly dire.

The delay surrounding The New Mutants, however, is a different story.

As for The New Mutants, it's apparently been delayed because it's not scary enough. The trailer for Josh Boone's film threw off serious horror movie vibes. In fact, it looked like a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, with mutants. Previously, it was announced that New Mutants was being pushed for reshoots, and to add a new character. Collider says that's true, and that the reactions at test screenings were positive. Boone delivered a cut to Fox that he was happy with, but Fox wants more. They want New Mutants to be as "tonally distinct the same way Logan and Deadpool."

Fox allegedly wants almost 50% of the film to be reshot, and the addition of one or two new major characters. This is not a great sign, and it disappoints me, because I thought New Mutants looked promising. The idea of a horror comic book movie seemed particularly neat, and I can only hope these reshoots will turn out for the best.