Dark Phoenix: Simon Kinberg reveals what went wrong | collider



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Dark Phoenix had a brutal opening weekend. The potential climax of Fox, which has lasted for several decades X Men With 32.8 million dollars, the franchise has fizzled at the box office – an absolute record for the franchise – despite a cast of stars and one of the most recognizable titles of the X Men heritage. On the heels of his disappointing debut, screenwriter / director Simon Kinberg gave a candid and elegant interview on KCRW's diary Business Podcast, explaining how the merging of release dates and the Disney-Fox merger impacted the film's journey and why it was not used as an excuse.

"It's clearly a film that has not been connected with the public who has not seen it, it has clearly not been connected with the public who saw it, so it's on me", said Kinberg. But that does not mean that there were no difficulties along the way. First of all, the filmmaker emphasized Dark Phoenix'His way to a summer release date that he never planned – a release date that also left the film as a result of Avengers: End of the game"Phenomenal success.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

"I've always thought we had a hard date for this movie," explained Kinberg. "It was not a classic superhero movie, but rather a dramatic, intimate and smaller film. Originally, it was due out in November and February, and that's when I thought it would have been more appropriate. "

"And also think that going out five or six weeks after what might be the biggest movie or the second most important film in the history of cinema, which happens to be also the kind of superheroes, was difficult for us, "he continued. "And I always thought it would be difficult to be leeward of the film. But I would not blame him on the weekend. "

While Kinberg avoided knowing it was true that James Cameron request Dark Phoenix to be moved so Alita: Battle Angel could hold the release date of February, he asked if his film could have been completed in time for a launch in February. "It's hard to know," he said. "If we had accelerated some things in this film, it might have been ready by that date," explaining that the filming of Dark Phoenix was not as intense as some previous X-Men movies, but in the end they had no choice.

But it's not just the mixed release date that has blocked Dark PhoenixThere was also the impending Disney-Fox merger, announced for the first time in late 2017, towards the beginning of the Kinberg post-production process. Although the filmmaker never signed the contract, he explained what it was to be part of the Fox family in the run-up to the merger, which shook the industry, especially during months, as the fallout began to take place.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

"Well, there's no question that people get fired or leave," Kinberg said. "I think people were aware of the massive layoffs and that in the last six months or so, there have been massive layoffs. Like thousands and thousands of people. So, the marketing and advertising aspects of Fox were hit very hard, and I noticed it because I did not think I was going to marketing meetings every week and some people were gone. These are people with whom I have worked for many years on many films that I have made. "

Kinberg said he was always more worried about his colleagues and their families than about his film, but the layoffs were not the only part of the deal that had an impact on marketing. The schedule also separated him between two ownership periods, leaving Disney's reputable and effective marketing machine just weeks away. Dark Phoenix landed in theaters. "They are clearly the best in the world, Disney, in movie marketing," Kinberg said. "But I know that their process is usually to start a year after the release of the film.In our case, we gave them the film two months after the film was released.They could not do anything until the finalization of the merger."

Whatever the reason, Kinberg's takes full responsibility for the disappointing debut of his film. "I'm here and I say when a movie does not work, put it on me," said Kinberg. "I'm the writer / director of the film, the film was not put in contact with the public, it's for me."

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