Of all the many unanswered questions currently looming over the proposed Disney-Fox merger, fans continue to mull over the fate of X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants – two properties that each have endured long, troubled spells in production.
But while Fox has delayed each blockbuster, they’re still destined for the warm light of day, which ought to please anyone who feared that Disney was about to pull the plug entirely.
Take The Wall Street Journal’s latest report (h/t MCU Cosmic), for instance. It goes into great detail about 20th Century Fox, and why the studio is proceeding as normal – for now, at least – as it braces for Drew Goddard’s X-Force movie and that long-in-development Gambit film. Not only that, but it also mentions that the Mouse House may release Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants if Fox can’t.
Until the deal is done, however, Fox is obligated to keep acting as if it will survive, people who work at the studio say, which means making movies and developing new ideas with no certainty as to what Disney will end up doing with them. Disney will release all of Fox’s movies that are complete or in production at the time of the acquisition, said a person with knowledge of its plans.
And no, despite rumors to the contrary, X-Men: Dark Phoenix won’t be spending the next three months in front of the cameras – chances are Fox has ordered up around two weeks of additional photography as its star-studded mutant epic inches closer and closer to the finish line.
If true, this leaves us feeling quietly confident that Dark Phoenix will make its February 2019 release window after all, with The New Mutants coming up just behind – Josh Boone’s horror-tinged spinoff was once scheduled to arrive this year, before Fox pushed it by a full 12 months. So you can understand why X-Men fans were beginning to feel a little apprehensive…