X-Men: Dark Phoenix is finally hitting screens next week after experiencing a few delays & it looks like we know a reason for at least one of the factors that played into the film being held for so long. Speaking with Yahoo! Movies UK, James McAvoy (who plays Charles Xavier) and Michael Fassbender (Magneto) said the much-buzzed-about reshoots, which reportedly changed the film’s original ending from a space setting to a train escape, were done to make Dark Phoenix stand out from another recent superhero film.
Neither actor will say which film is in question but both agree similarities with a certain film led to reshoots of the third act:
“The finale had to change. There was a lot of overlap and parallels with another superhero movie that came out… a while ago. And we had no idea that we were [shooting something similar].”
Without pointing a finger directly at any of their box office peers, Fassbender went one step further, joking that the mysterious other movie had “spies on set” for Dark Phoenix. More seriously, both actors agreed that the can’t-be-named film indeed appeared to be mining the same source material, at least for its finale, as Dark Phoenix.
Many on social media speculate the film in question is Captain Marvel. The speculation comes from not only its ending’s epic outer space showdown but also for its relatively close development timeline. The Disney-Fox merger was unfolding around the same time as Dark Phoenix entered post-production in late 2017, so it’s also possible that fellow Marvel movie Avengers: Endgame, which wrapped in early 2018, is also a possibility. Avengers: Infinity War also had a space showdown but Infinity War wrapped in the summer of 2017. The re-shoots also reportedly changed Jean Grey’s overall look for the film, moving away from a very Carol Danvers-esque nimbus of radiant energy.
The third act change is getting the seal of approval from the film’s star, Sophie Turner, who plays Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix. The Game of Thrones actress was upbeat about the changes calling it “Such a good decision. The third act is the best part of the movie, for me.”
X-Men: Dark Phoenix underwent extensive reshoots in late 2018, delaying its release by more than a year. A lot of people speculated that the reshoots meant that the film was a mess but if people working on the production were also aware of what Captain Marvel was doing, it’s not far-fetched that this became the reasons for the reshoots. It’s no secret that those in the know will be well aware of what’s happening with various productions and, even though 20th Century Fox wasn’t under the Disney/Marvel banner yet, it wouldn’t be hard for higher-ups to find out what each production would be doing. The unfortunate thing about dropping the space finale is that it’s less in line with the source material. That being said, the actors feel like the ending is much more “grounded” and is less about spectacle and more about the overall emotion of the conflict and story.
Whenever any film, but especially a huge studio release, undergoes extensive reshoots the perception is never positive. It’s possible that this is all being spun this way to cover the fact that the film does indeed have issues. Jessica Chastain has stated that her character underwent several changes during various drafts of the script and that it wasn’t always clear what her intentions were. There seem to be a lot of cooks in the kitchen on Dark Phoenix which could’ve resulted in a lack of focus on the project.
A lot of this is all speculation so I guess we will all find out how this comes together when X-Men: Dark Phoenix hits screens on June 7.
