X-Men Movie Dark Phoenix's Release Date Delayed After First Trailer

Well, this is awkward. Two days after the first trailer for Dark Phoenix, the next X-Men movie, was released, Fox is now delaying the film. As stated in the trailer, Dark Phoenix was originally set to open in theaters on February 14, 2019. It would have been the perfect Valentine's Day date movie for you and your favorite mutant, but now you're out of luck.

According to Deadline, Dark Phoenix will now hit theaters on June 7, 2019. That will make it a summer release, but the move is still very odd given how it's only been two days since a trailer arrived. However, as Deadline points out, not only could a summer release mean a much bigger box office take for Dark Phoenix, but the trailer's success in China--44 million views in 24 hours--could lead to it being a much larger hit in the country. It will now be opening against The Secret Life of Pets 2.

The move to June 7 also necessitated another release change for Fox. Gambit, which has had no end of issues actually getting made, originally occupied the slot. It's now been bumped to 2020. Then again, who knows what the odds are that movie actually beginning production anytime soon.

One other release date change by Fox sees Alita, the adaptation of Alita: Battle Angel, moving to Dark Phoenix's old February 14 release. It had originally been scheduled for December 21. Instead, Fox is believed to be releasing a PG-13 edit of Deadpool 2. That would be a very interesting move, given the upcoming sale of Fox to Disney, who owns Marvel. Perhaps this is how the studio will measure whether a toned down Deadpool movie could work. Of course, given that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige will likely take control of the X-Men properties once the sale to Disney is complete, this could all change again in the coming months.

Thus far, there's been no change in the release date of New Mutants, the other X-Men movie coming in 2019. The horror film is still scheduled to be released on August 2, 2019.