The first footage from Dark Phoenix has been released and is apparently better than you'd expect. After eighteen years of movies, Fox's era of X-Men may be coming to a close. With the looming merger between Fox and Disney (or maybe even Comcast), fans of the Marvel characters they control are looking forward to the possibility of Marvel Studios getting access to the X-Men and Fantastic Four. Before that happens though, Fox is finishing out their own plans, which includes another shot at the Dark Phoenix Saga.
This arc will be the at the center of the fourth film in the rebooted X-Men franchise that focuses on younger versions of Professor X, Magneto, and just about every other X-Men character. While the story that first time director Simon Kinberg is trying to bring to life is a favorite among comic readers, there's still a bad taste associated with it from Brett Ratner's mostly hated X-Men: The Last Stand. The team behind Dark Phoenix hasn't necessarily cleared things up either, with teases of it being intergalactic but grounded.
Related: When Will The X-Men: Dark Phoenix Trailer Release?
Those in attendance at Fox's panel at CineEurope today were lucky enough to check out the first trailer for Dark Phoenix and it appears to have gone over well. Kinometro reported on what they saw, calling it a "fantastic action thriller" that looks "better than expected." Oddly, the site appears to have confused the original teaser for New Mutants as being for the same movie, as they referenced a darker, older trailer.
This is just one opinion on the trailer, as social media has been oddly quiet regarding what was shown, but if this is the consensus than its a much needed positive step forward for Dark Phoenix. The movie was originally slated to hit theaters this November but Fox since delayed it till next February - pushing Gambit and New Mutants (again) in the process. The delay is due to upcoming reshoots, the extent of which varies depending on the source. What appears to be the focus is the third act and with these reshoots now planned, hopefully none of the footage is from the ending they need to change and thus a proper representation of what Dark Phoenix will be.
Now that Fox is showing off Dark Phoenix, it may not be too long before this trailer (or another version of it) is released for everyone to see. Fox doesn't have a major release until The Darkest Minds in August, and they may want to get it into theaters as some major summer movies start rolling out. Films like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Ant-Man and The Wasp, and Mission: Impossible - Fallout will all attract a ton of viewers, so if Fox has a solid trailer for Dark Phoenix on their hands, it could very well be attached to any of those. Plus, with San Diego Comic-Con just over a month away, they could show it again there and release it online simultaneously.
MORE: Dark Phoenix May Not Feature Space or Skrulls
Source: Kinometro