There are still high hopes for the X-Men franchise with the potential for Marvel Studios to eventually acquire the rights to the characters. Until then, 20th Century Fox is still pushing ahead with several projects focused on the popular mutant superheroes including "Dark Phoenix." Based on early reactions to the new movie trailer that was unveiled at CineEurope, it could be a welcome entry into the X-Men series of films. Reports by Heroic Hollywood and ComicBook.com provided most of the details used in this article.

'Dark Phoenix' movie details

The newest installment in the X-Men films will feature events taking place a decade after "X-Men: Apocalypse." In the year 1992, Jean Grey ends up losing control of her abilities during a rescue mission in space as a solar flare hits her and other X-Men. That leads to her unleashing the Phoenix. The movie explores the battle she has between her two personalities. Some are calling the film "The Last Stand 2.0," since that previous film has been dismissed as a complete disaster by some X-Men fans. The 2006 film has a 58 percent aggregate review score at Rotten Tomatoes. A consensus of the movie suggests it packs in the action for fans of the franchise but ignores the deeper character moments of the previous films.

Sophie Turner will have the role of Jean Grey/Phoenix in the new "Dark Phoenix" film. Returning as Charles Xavier/Professor X will be James McCoy. Michael Fassbender returns as Magneto and Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as Mystique.

Among other actors making their return will be Nicholas Hoult as Beast and Evan Peters as Quicksilver. The new movie was directed by Simon Kinberg. He helped produce the film along with Hutch Parker and Schuler Donner. Kinberg worked on other films in the X-Men series since "X-Men: The Last Stand," and produced "Deadpool 2."

He's also currently behind the production for the upcoming film, "The New Mutants." That particular film has already unveiled a trailer and had a dark sort of sci-fi feel to it.

It seems the "Dark Phoenix" movie won't be quite as dark.

Movie trailer praised for tone

The first "Dark Phoenix" trailer was shown by 20th Century Fox at the CineEurope 2018 event. The early reactions have said the film appears to have a "lighter tone" compared to previous installments in the franchise. It's being labeled as a sci-fi/thriller movie, so far. Artur Chachelov of Kinometro suggested that it "looks better than expected." Chachelov added that the trailer seemed to be "rid of the excessive gloom of the teaser." Basically, the first look at "Dark Phoenix" seems to indicate it will work to continue what has been established with most of the previous X-Men films.

The tone of those previous Movies has also included humor thanks to the injection of comedy from various performers.

Hugh Jackman comes to mind with his wise-cracking, take no prisoners Wolverine. Unfortunately, as fans saw in "Logan," there's probably not much chance of him appearing in the new movie. Still, it seems it has great potential.

Worthy X-Men movie?

The last X-Men movie, per se, was "X-Men: Apocalypse," which had a budget of $178 million and raked in over $540 million at the box office. However, it was one that had a lot of buzz heading into the release that didn't quite live up to the hype, per critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave "Apocalypse" a 48 percent, based on their collection of critics' reviews. Metacritic gave it a 52 out of 100. Meanwhile, CinemaScore indicated that audiences generally favored the movie, awarding it an A-.

Movies such as "Deadpool" and "Logan" explored characters that are related to the Marvel Comics and X-Men stories. Both movies received high marks and did well at the box office. Most of the other X-Men movies have also done well at the theaters, although longtime fans are still hoping for a really great X-Men movie to arrive again. "Dark Phoenix" may just be the one that gets things headed in the right direction. One would expect the trailer to surface in the coming weeks as San Diego Comic-Con is on the way. Fans of the mutant superheroes will have to wait until early next year to get a look at the full film, though. 20th Century Fox's "Dark Phoenix" will blast into theaters on February 14, 2019.
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