21st Century Fox recently shifted release dates for certain X-Men shared universe movies, including Deadpool 2 and The New Mutants.
Deadpool fans will most likely be ecstatic when they learn that the Merc with a Mouth’s second standalone movie will roll into theaters on May 18, 2018 rather than June 1.
Had the studio stuck with its original schedule, Deadpool 2 would have been released one week after Solo: A Star Wars Story. The new date will have it opening one week before the Disney/LucasFilm venture. In addition, David Leitch’s sequel will arrive on the same day as Screen Gems' Slender Man and just two weeks after the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s heavyweight Avengers: Infinity War.
May 18. #MaximumEffort pic.twitter.com/s7aCBXbaFF
"” Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) January 11, 2018
But now for the bad news. Fans looking forward to The New Mutants will now wait ten additional months to see it. Its release has been moved from April 13, 2018 to February 22, 2019.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio rescheduled the movies to "avoid having an overlap with X-Men movies in certain overseas marketplaces". Leaving the schedule as it was would put The New Mutants and Deadpool 2 in theaters at the same time in some international territories.
That may be true, but TheWrap suggested that the real reason for the shake-up is something else entirely. An insider source told the outlet that the Josh Boone venture, which is being marketed as a horror movie, just wasn't "scary enough". (UPDATE: Tracking Board concurs with TheWrap, adding that the movie “tested well but not great.”) That would explain the delay, especially after the promotional campaign had already been launched.
We recently reported that Gambit had lost its third director, which led us to wonder whether the movie would still be released on Valentine's Day 2019. Since then, Fox moved the date to June 7, 2019, giving them four additional months to find a new director, film scenes, and complete post-production.
