The X-Men franchise has broken a lot of new ground in recent years thanks to the likes of Deadpool and Logan, and the franchise will continue doing so in the near future. This year, along with X-Men: Dark Phoenix continuing the main X-Men series, Deadpool 2 and The New Mutants were scheduled, and despite its director problems, Gambit is still being worked on for a 2019 release. However, new release date information has just dropped. The good news is that you'll be able to see Deadpool 2 a couple weeks earlier. The bad news is that The New Mutants and Gambit have been delayed.
Originally scheduled for June 1 of this year, Deadpool 2 will now hit theaters on May 18, putting it in competition with Slender Man that opening weekend and arriving one week before Solo: A Star Wars Story drops. However, we've also learned that New Mutants has been moved from April 13 of this year to February 22, 2019. According to insiders who spoke with THR, one reason The New Mutants has been delayed for so many months is because Fox didn't want to have any X-Men movie overlap, because in certain territories, Deadpool 2 and The New Mutants would have been in theaters at the same time. So rather than three X-Men movies being released in 2018, now there are just two: Deadpool 2 being an early summer release and X-Men: Dark Phoenix still coming out on November 2. As for Gambit, it's been moved from February 14, 2019 to June 7, 2019, though Fox still "believe" in the project, which is described as having a "heavy comedic tone as it revolves around a heist."
Although Deadpool 2 arriving in May is good news for folks who enjoyed Wade Wilson's first proper cinematic appearance in 2016 (that's right, we're not counting X-Men Origins: Wolverine), the biggest shock from this update is that The New Mutants has been delayed almost a year. This news comes only three months before it was originally supposed to be released, and three months after the teaser trailer dropped. While not wanting to have two X-Men movies playing at the same time certainly serves as a plausible explanation, I also can't help but wonder if there's movement behind the scenes to tinker with The New Mutants to make it better, whether that's through re-shoots, re-editing, etc.
Turning to Gambit, it was reported earlier today that Gore Verbinski, the third director to be attached to the Ragin' Cajun's standalone adventure, dropped out. So that movie being delayed doesn't come as a surprise, as Channing Tatum and the rest of the creative team need extra time to find yet another director and work out any remaining kinks with the project before shooting begins. Still, given all the setbacks Gambit has dealt with over the years, let's not discount it being delayed again if new problems arise.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on all things concerning the X-Men film franchise, and don't forget to look through our 2018 premiere guide to see what non-mutant-filled movies are on the way this year.
