‘Dark Phoenix’ Release Date Was Reportedly Moved For James Cameron’s ‘Alita: Battle Angel’

According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, the second release date shift for Dark Phoenix was prompted by a request from James Cameron over concerns regarding Alita: Battle Angel‘s box office prospects.

Fox’s Dark Phoenix debuted this past weekend to negative reviews and disappointing box office numbers, marking an underwhelming end to the current era of X-Men films. However, THR reports Dark Phoenix was not designed to be a summer movie and the move to a June 2019 release date, the second shift after the film was initially scheduled November 2, 2018, and then February 14 of this year, was prompted by a request from Alita: Battle Angel producer James Cameron.

According to the report, James Cameron was concerned Alita: Battle Angel would fare poorly at the box office in its December opening weekend opposite Aquaman and Bumblebee. Stacey Snider, who served as Chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox before it was acquired by Disney, granted James Cameron’s request to shift the release date of Alita: Battle Angel and the costly film then assumed the February spot while Dark Phoenix was pushed back to June.

The outlet’s sources say 20th Century Fox Film vice chairman Emma Watts and Dark Phoenix producers Hutch Parker and Simon Kinberg (who also directed the film) “begged” Snider not to give Alita: Battle Angel the February release date. A Fox insider informed THR part of the reason the trio wanted Snider to reconsider because Dark Phoenix was not designed to be a summer spectacle and was intentionally smaller in scale compared to X-Men: Apocalypse.

What do you make of this situation? Would Dark Phoenix have fared better at the box office in the release date taken by James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

This is the story of one of the X-Men’s most beloved characters, Jean Grey, as she evolves into the iconic DARK PHOENIX. During a life-threatening rescue mission in space, Jean is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with this increasingly unstable power as well as her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet. The film is the most intense and emotional X-Men movie ever made. It is the culmination of 20 years of X-Men movies, as the family of mutants that we’ve come to know and love must face their most devastating enemy yet — one of their own.

Written and directed by Simon Kinberg, Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters, and Jessica Chastain.

Dark Phoenix will be released in theaters on June 7, 2019.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter