X-Men: Dark Phoenix release date pushed back to June 2019

Strong response to the film's trailer has seen it move to a prime summer slot

X-Men: Dark Phoenix's release date has been pushed back for the second time.

Having already been significantly delayed, with producers moving it from 2 November 2018 to 14 February 2019, Deadline now reports that the prequel will open on 7 June next year.

The new, prime summer slot appears to be 20th Century Fox responding to the positive reaction to the trailer, which has received more than 8m views on YouTube since last week.

Dark Phoenix is based on the 1980s storyline of the X-Men comic book series and was previously featured in 2006's largely maligned X-Men: The Last Stand. The upcoming film, starring Sophie Turner as Jean Grey (Phoenix), promises to be more faithful to the original story arc.

Set 10 years after X-Men: Apocalypse, in 1992, the X-Men are now national heroes. However, during a rescue mission in space, one of their team, Jean Grey, is nearly killed when she is hit by a mysterious cosmic force.

Upon returning home, the X-Men discover that not only does this force make Jean infinitely more powerful, it also makes her far more unstable. As she starts to spiral out of control, the very fabric that holds the X-Men together will be put to the test, as a shapeshifter (Jessica Chastain) starts to take an interest in Jean's powers.

Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters, Tye Sheridan, and Kodi Smit-McPhee are all returning to the franchise. Simon Kinberg, who has produced every X-Men affiliated film since First Class and co-wrote The Last Stand, First Class, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse, will make his directorial debut.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is released in UK cinemas 7 June 2019.

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