Fox is moving full steam ahead with their X-Men universe and have now confirmed release dates for three movies in 2018. The studio has had a mixed track record over the years, but recently they've found success by bringing more R-rated superhero content to the big screen. Logan saw Hugh Jackman say goodbye to Wolverine, but Deadpool introduced the world to Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. However, they will not be solely reliant on R-rated movies and will continue to pump out new chapters in their main story.

There have been previous signs of Fox upping their output for 2018 with Deadpool 2 and New Mutants all but confirmed for 2018, but it looked like it could be even bigger depending on when the next installment of the main X-Men series hit. Well, Fox has now confirmed that Deadpool 2New Mutants, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix will hit theaters next year.

BoxOffice shared this information online and did so with their accompanied release dates and we've confirmed Fox Distribution sent this info (and the Avatar sequel release dates) to Rentrak this morning. New Mutants will be the first film out the gate with an April 13th release, followed by Deadpool 2 on June 1st, and concluded with Dark Phoenix on November 2nd. This will mark the first time Fox has released three X-Men titles in the same calendar year.

Deadpool and New Mutants

With New Mutants being the first film out the gate next year, it is a good sign that production is on track to film this summer. Director Josh Boone recently confirmed that the film is officially in the pre-production stage, which should help bring more information on the project to light. The film has no confirmed cast members, but Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams have been heavily linked as Magik and Wolfsbane respectively. Nat Wolff has also been rumored to be Cannonball, and with the film being less than a year away, the cast should become official very soon.

Deadpool 2, meanwhile, has had the most official news of late, making it a tad surprising it will not come out earlier. However, the prime summer release date shows Fox's confidence in the project, and they should be after the first grossed north of $750M worldwide in February. John Wick co-director David Leitch is taking over directing duties for the sequel, and it has recently cast Zazie Beetz as Domino and Josh Brolin as Cable.

Dark Phoenix, on the other hand, has had a rather mysterious pre-production process. It was previously believed to be titled X-Men: Supernova, but the new title confirms that Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) will be playing a prominent role. Longtime X-Men writer Simon Kinberg is reportedly being eyed to possibly direct, but he has since downplayed those discussions. Most of the young, new mutants from Apocalypse are expected to return, but the futures of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult are up in the air. Luckily for Dark Phoenix, it has the most time to figure everything out.

Sources: Fox, BoxOffice

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