Here Come the Rumors About ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ and ‘New Mutants’ Undergoing Major Reshoots

When news broke yesterday that Fox was reshuffling its release dates for several major upcoming films, I predicted that we'd soon hear rumors about why X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants were undergoing major reshoots. Right on schedule, Collider posted a piece detailing the issues that caused both films to be bumped back several months, and they're all pretty predictable.

First up, Dark Phoenix requires some major reshoots following a handful of test screenings, but scheduling around all of those A-list stars and their A-list schedules means that the film needed to be pushed back...

Fox decided to push Dark Phoenix’s release date to February to give everyone the time necessary to complete the needed additional photography and post-production on said sequences. So the release date delay for this film is basically just an issue of scheduling.

Sure, totally innocuous.

The real problem child here is, predictably, The New Mutants, which Fox doesn't feel is "scary" enough. The early advertising for the film pointed toward it embracing horror clichés, but it's now a case of them wanting a full-blown horror flick...

Director Josh Boone delivered a cut of the film that he was happy with, but Fox wants this movie to stand out as tonally distinct the same way Logan and Deadpool did.

The reshoots that the studio wants are now even more significant. We’re hearing that at least 50% of the movie may be reshot, and they’re adding one or two new characters who will be present throughout the entirety of the film—this isn’t simply adding a cameo. Moreover, Boone has been having some creative differences with the studio over the requested changes to the movie, so the reasons for the New Mutants delay are more complex than why Dark Phoenix is being pushed.

More complex? I doubt it. This is, once again, Fox hiring an inexperienced director to bring "their vision" to the screen and then deciding after the fact that they don't like anyone's vision but their own. I get that it's not easy to strike that perfect balance between a total unique individualist director and someone like Brett Ratner who'll finish the movie on-time and under budget, but make it unwatchable.

Granted the guy who directed The Fault in Our Stars isn't likely a visionary, but they were sold on his pitch for the movie. Don't decide after the fact that you no longer like the pitch. All that does is cost more money and harm your film's reputation. I guarantee the original cut of Fant4stic was better than what ended up being released, no matter how terrible it was. Would it have really made a difference to the bottom line if they had just released a fiasco rather than a failure? Watch for The New Mutants to do exactly the same.