It's out with the old and in with the new as the reason for the failure of Simon Kinberg's
Dark Phoenix movie may be the Disney/Fox deal, the
Captain Marvel movie, and the promotion of Brie Larson as the new face of the MCU.
With
Dark Phoenix being a complete disaster at the box office, the "blame game" is now being played out in the Hollywood trade sites, with
Deadlineoffering a spin on things in an article that places most of the blame on Fox Studios and, of course, none on Disney, who acquired the company in a $71 billion deal.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix extended cut exists
In addition, reports are surfacing that a much better cut of
X-Men: Dark Phoenix exists that would have better fleshed out the story and included even more action and improved dialogue and a worthwhile villain (more on that below). According to fans that have viewed the cut, it would have added up to 22 minutes or more of footage. Fans that have viewed the two different cuts of the
Dark Phoenix movie offer lines were changed in the theatrical version of the film that took away from the much better-extended version. The theatrical release of
Dark Phoenix has a run-time of less than two hours, while the preceding two X-Men films are near two and a half hours in length. Comparisons to the "KinbergCut" are now being made to what happened with Zack Snyder's
Batman v Superman and
Justice League (cut down to two hours), which saw Warner Bros. executives interfere with Snyder's vision and fans campaign for the release of the "SnyderCut."
Now, why would Fox cut
Dark Phoenix and even go so far as to change lines in the film?
Did the Disney/Fox deal cause executives to demand changes on Simon Kinberg's
Dark Phoenix? Did the similarities between the
Dark Phoenix story starring Sophie Turner and the Brie Larson
Captain Marvel movie cause Disney to interfere?
Dark Phoenix was originally going to be the first "Marvel" movie starring a female superhero, but that went to Brie Larson and
Captain Marvel when the
Dark Phoenix release date was changed (yet again) and moved away from
Captain Marvel.
Dark Phoenix was supposed to come out November 2018, then February 2019 -- a month before
Captain Marvel. Did Fox decide to release
Dark Phoenix as one movie because the Disney/Fox deal was going through? Were lines changed in the movie, in addition to the ending redone, so that it further separated
Dark Phoenix from
Captain Marvelthat made it worse?
Deadline offers numerous "reasons" why
Dark Phoenix failed but includes in their report a tidbit that is worth mentioning in that the movie was originally supposed to be two parts. It's said that Fox execs "changed gears" during late pre-production and demanded that it only be one movie.
No blame for Simon Kinberg and about the "reshoots"
Interestingly enough, Deadline's piece offers no blame toward writer/director/producer Simon Kinberg; however, the same can't be said of online reviews and fan commentary. Kinberg is getting
hammered for the failure of
Dark Phoenix, which only brought in a measly $33 million. Deadline spins things stating, "We understand Kinberg got to make the film he wanted to make, and was flexible about reshoots with the studio." The film he wanted to make? Their own report states
Dark Phoenix was originally intended to be two parts. Certainly, Kinberg, who is a fan of the more than 55 year history of the comics and remembers the failure of
Last Stand, which he also wrote, wanted to correct things with the two-parter
Dark Phoenix movie, but we see he never got the chance, which is because of the Disney-Fox deal, and now
Dark Phoenix is considered worse than
The Last Stand by some. Oh, the irony.
Regarding reshoots, Kinberg most recently said they don't plan for reshoots while discussing
New Mutants. He said: "For all of these movies, Marvel's really brilliant at scheduling pick-ups into their budget and schedule so it's all prepared, and we have never been that smart." So did
Dark Phoenix have reshoots and saw its runtime cut because the longer, by all accounts, much better version, wasn't favorably received by test audiences? And they planned for that? Or was it, again, because Disney wanted
Dark Phoenix changed so that it didn't resemble
Captain Marvel? It is known the ending of
Dark Phoenixwas changed, said to be similar to the end of
Captain Marvel, from an epic United Nations scene to a CGI
train wreck. Maybe Kinberg is trying to tell us something?
Captain Marvel and Brie Larson can't lose
Regarding
Captain Marvel and Brie Larson, while promoting the release of
Captain Marvel amid fan backlash, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige
told fans (note: bold emphasis my own): "She's one of the most popular characters in our comics, she's one of the most powerful characters in the comics and
will be the most powerful character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Feige also added: "And one of the highlights at my career at Marvel was introducing her at Comic-Con and having her coming out on stage and stand there with literally almost everything else from our universe, and
there she was at the forefront, and it was a
great foreshadowing of not just for how
audiences are going to embrace Brie as this character, but also for how
Captain Marvel is about to take the lead and be at the forefront of the entire Cinematic Universe."
Well, what would have happened if audiences favored and liked Sophie Turner and Jean Grey and the
Dark Phoenix movie more than Brie Larson and
Captain Marvel -- as
Dark Phoenix was supposed to be released prior to
Captain Marvel? How was Marvel Studios and Disney going to promote
Captain Marvel as the first Marvel female superhero movie if
Dark Phoenixgets released November 2018 or February 2019? Feige says it himself that Brie Larson and Captain Marvel are taking the lead and will be the forefront of the Marvel universe. That can't happen if X-Men's
Dark Phoenix, Jean Grey and Sophie Turner come out on top. Certainly, if fans - even the general audience - saw the original better version of
Dark Phoenix prior to
Captain Marvel that they would have second-guessed what Feige and Marvel Studios were doing, even going so far as accusing
Captain Marvel of ripping off
Dark Phoenix. Again, Feige, Marvel, and Disney couldn't let that happen. Billions of dollars were at stake.
It all adds up
So adding things up: Simon Kinberg's initial plan is to make a two-part
Dark Phoenix movie, but during pre-production, he was forced to only make it one movie; for some reason, Kinberg "decided" to cut the run time, cut scenes and change dialogue -- for the worse; the release date was changed not once, but twice, from November 2018 to February 2019 - before the release of Disney's
Captain Marvel - to a June Summer 2019 release after
Captain Marvel, which Deadline offers was also a big mistake as: "the movie was never intended to be a summer film.
Dark Phoenix is darker and more psychologically complex than other X-Men movies. It was always seen as an off-season release, and the original plan was to get out ahead of
Captain Marvel (March 8) and be the first female-led Marvel movie."
Deadline spins the release date changes and problems as the fault of Fox Studios' PR, stating execs didn't know when the flick was getting released, etc. etc., but a report from
Vanity Fair from March does place the blame on the Disney-Fox deal in that the marketing surrounding the film had "new faces in the room—a handful of high-end consultants have been hired temporarily to fill the jobs recently vacated by long-term employees."
Back in January when the Disney fan shill sites were stating the movie was bad, sources close to Fox told me that a lot of hard work was done on the movie and those involved were proud of what they accomplished. The question remains, is the theatrical release the version what they accomplished?
Disney interference
Prior to the Disney-Fox deal going through, did Disney have anything to do with Fox Studios? According to a Fox leaker, Disney execs were spotted on set of the movies. It's claimed Disney execs were keeping an eye on things during the transition and were actively involved, as
they wanted to make a clean slate of things. While some may scoff at the idea of Disney being involved or outright interfering with Fox prior to the merger, we are talking billions and billions of dollars here; so Disney having some sort of involvement doesn't seem that farfetched.
It seems probable:
- Simon Kinberg and Fox Studios decided on an epic two-part Dark Phoenix movie.
- Word of the Disney-Fox deal came down from on high, so Kinberg was forced to make it only one film.
- As it is only one film, a lot had to be changed, such as the villains (see below).
- Meanwhile, Feige, Disney and Marvel Studios had been developing the Captain Marvel movie starring Brie Larson, which is to become the face of their new MCU following Avengers: Endgame and the original Avengers actor leaving.
- Kinberg's Dark Phoenix and Feige's Captain Marvel are very similar.
- Kinberg's Dark Phoenix has a November 2018 release date, prior to Captain Marvel.
- Audiences will first see Sophie Turner as a cosmically empowered character that involves aliens.
- Captain Marvel will follow, but audiences will be left scratching their heads as they just saw the same movie a few months prior.
- The Disney-Fox deal continues to get approval and go through.
- Disney and Feige don't want Dark Phoenix to interfere with their massive plans for Brie Larson and Captain Marvel.
- Disney tells Fox and Kinberg to change things for Dark Phoenix, including plot details and the release date (look for Kinberg to possibly be involved with Disney / Marvel Studios in the future).
- Dark Phoenix undergoes cuts, rewrites, edits and "reshoots" including the similar ending to Captain Marvel.
- Captain Marvel gets released to a billion dollar gross.
- The Disney/Fox deal officially goes through two weeks later.
- Dark Phoenix gets released and fails completely.
- Fox Studios marketing is blamed in part for the Dark Phoenix failure, though for at least two months it falls under Disney and it is known prior to the deal having gone through that employees left and were replaced.
Dark Phoenix extended cut details
A user on the Super Hero Hype forums who has seen the extended cut also thinks there was Disney interference and goes so far as to state the reason for changes on
Dark Phoenix is because that down the road, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige wants to adapt his own version of the
Dark Phoenixstoryline when the MCU incorporates the X-Men (consider a rumor).
Regarding the
Dark Phoenix extended cut and two-parter, the user on the Super Hero Hype forums goes into great detail about the differences between the two versions, with another user chiming in as well. You can read what they have to say
here,
here and
here, but some of the cooler and more notable differences include:
- In the two-parter, Jessica was to play Lilandra of the Shi'ar, not an obscure villain (consider this a rumor; more on that below). It's noted if you pay attention to the theatrical release that a lot of Jessica Chastain's lines comes off-screen, meaning they were added after filming had already been done (and changed).
- Scott and Jean's footage relationship was fleshed out more.
- The Hank and Raven scene was extended where Hank was going to leave with her.
- Xavier was to leave the banquet with a full police escort leading back to the school.
- Jessica Chastain talking with her alien people about humans, the phoenix force and mutants was extended.
- The inhabitants of Genosha were first scared of Jean when she arrived.
- Magneto's line was cut in the theatrical release; he was supposed to say: “I’ve seen evil, I know what it looks like when it’s staring back at me and I’m looking at it now."
- Jessica Chastain and the Jean bar scene was cut short, with Chastain stating: "You think you don’t belong here, you don’t."
- Some of Storm in the sub-basement was cut. She had a line stating: “Where Scott goes, I go. If he needs me, I’m there, end of discussion”
- All of Storm and Selene's fight choreography was cut, in addition to a few more moments of Selene using her powers to make Nightcrawler band around and get closer to her.
- Jean was also to have slight fire in her hair in a scene, part of which was completed from the first original version of the film and wasn’t altered for the new 3rd act yet, which saw it removed.
- EVERYTHING after Jean stopping herself now from killing Xavier is from reshoots with the sole exception of the school rename and Summer Fontana’s astral plane scene.
- Most of Chastain’s lines after Jean stops attacking Xavier were new, Xavier was just supposed to say “she will kill us all” and she hisses “yessssss.”
- The alien version of Chastain's Vuk was supposed to have a full face reveal after she gets up on the roof after Scott blasted her, while they were all being carried away. Then we were to see her face heal over itself and her stare at the stars taking in her newfound heightened senses. Then she was to look down at the mutants being loaded up into armored vans.
- Jessica Chastain was supposed to do a superhero landing on the team during the train scene, with the speed pushing her skin she grew out of place and it healing back. THEN she was to rush at Beast.
- PHOENIX FORMING AROUND JEAN AS IT INTERTWINED WITH THE TRAIN AS ITS CARS FLOATED IN THE SKY. Was entirely Pre-viz so probably cut for budget and impact of the space Phoenix.
- ALL of Jean’s fight choreography was cut. She was to have a massive fight with onslaughts of the aliens that were coming out of the rubble ending with her disintegrating then all after being stabbed with the pole.
Lily Adler#forthecontent! 📹 (she/her)
DKDetectiveElementary, Dear Robin (he/him)
squeeknessI'm a poor lost puppy
SwordOfMorningSuper Moderator
ImmortalfireThe Vectorman
