10 High-Profile 2019 Movies You Should Be Worried About
2. Dark Phoenix (February 14)
The Movie:
Longtime franchise writer and producer Simon Kinberg makes his directorial debut with the twelfth installment in the long-running series looking to do the Phoenix Saga properly this time, with the majority of the cast from the rebooted timeline also returning.
Why You Should Be Worried:
Dark Phoenix took a huge risk when handing franchise stalwart Simon Kinberg $200m to make his directorial debut, especially when the movie is essentially re-telling a story that has been botched once before in The Last Stand, which is generally regarded as one of the weakest X-Men entries and was co-written by Kinberg himself.
Convincing James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender to return was a wise move, but bringing back Jennifer Lawrence seemed odd given how much everybody knows how much she loathes putting on the Mystique makeup, and isn't shy in publicly voicing her dissatisfaction with the role. Her exact words on renewing her contract: "I kinda f**ked myself."
After filming wrapped, stories began to emerge of the first-time director struggling to handle such a massive production, ones which only gathered steam when the release date was pushed back three months and hefty reshoots reportedly began.
These rumors only gathered momentum at San Diego Comic-Con, when Dark Phoenix had no presence whatsoever, which is very unusual for a superhero movie of this size. Whatever the truth of the matter is, after the negative response to X-Men: Apocalypse, Kinberg's movie could make or break the main series, which only increases the pressure on him and his team.