Get ready for a whole lot of mutant action in 2018! Over the weekend, Fox announced the official release dates for their next three films in their X-Men franchise and they are all arriving next year. This will be a first for the studio, who has only pumped out more than one such film in a calendar year once before (Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse last year).
First on deck is New Mutants, which will arrive in theaters on April 13th, 2018. The Josh Boone-directed feature is reportedly set in the early ’90s and has more of a horror bent than any other film in the franchise. Professor X (James McAvoy) and a few others are expected to cameo, but the cast will predominantly be comprised of characters new to the screen, such as Magik, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Sunspot, Warlock, and Cannonball. The villain? Demon Bear!
Next up is sure to be the biggest hit of the bunch. Deadpool 2 will blast onto screens on June 1st, 2018, under the direction of David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde). Ryan Reynolds and the majority of the original film’s supporting cast will be back in a sequel penned by Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, and Drew Goddard. New to the cast so far are Josh Brolin as the gruff time-traveling mutant soldier Cable and Zazie Beetz as the equally badass Domino.
Lastly, we have X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The next installment of the core X-Men film franchise, it is slated to hit cinemas on November 2nd, 2018. The film will pick up some time after the events of last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse, with the likes of James McAvoy (Professor X), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) all expected to return. The involvement of actors Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), and Nicholas Hoult (Beast) is unknown at this time. As of yet, no writer or director has officially been announced for the project.
Beyond these three, Fox still has at least two other X-Men films in the works: Gambit and X-Force. The former still sees actor Channing Tatum attached to play the titular role, but the project appears to be in limbo at the moment, having lost yet another director late last year. As for X-Force, the studio recently signed Joe Carnahan to pen a script for the project, which will be spun out of Deadpool 2. The eventual film should see Brolin (Cable) and Beetz (Domino) reprising their roles from that film, possibly with Reynolds in tow as well.
