Simon Kinberg’s X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix, has been trashed beyond recognition. The movie is expected to lose $100 million dollars at the box office and who knows if any of that will be recouped through overseas theaters or home release. With many audience members questioning whether New Mutants will even see the light of day, Dark Phoenix might’ve ended Fox’s X-Men run with a whimper. One person that is willing to be accountable for the movie’s failure is director, Simon Kinberg.
Before the film’s release, Kinberg had hit a few snags along the way to the theater release date. The production was riddled with reshoots and rewrites that caused the movie to be pushed back a couple of times. There’s even a story going around that the movie was originally supposed to be a two-parter that would’ve ended with a more epic battle between the X-Men and the villains of the movie.
While speaking to KCRW, Kinberg attempted to explain the shortcomings Dark Phoenix has and took full responsibility for what audience members got. Here’s what he had to say:
“It clearly is a movie that didn’t connect with audiences that didn’t see it, it didn’t connect enough with audiences that did see it. So that’s on me.”
At least Simon Kinberg is man enough to admit this, unlike some other past X-Men directors…you know who you are. Kinberg will most likely bounce back from this and we’ll probably see his name on some other big blockbuster film soon.
If a reminder of the film’s plot is needed, here’s the synopsis:
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.
Hopefully, Marvel won’t be making the same mistakes Fox has done with this franchise. Don’t worry Logan, you’re still a great film.