did you read the Jeff Sneider big article that told the very first details of the behind the scenes (along with the Jon Hamm/Banderas exclusive)... well, in that article he said that the word or speculation is that a part of the reason of this situation is that the movie didnt have a main producer controlling all the process and putting everything in place.
u know what? the inside word is that Kinberg
was actually involved in the movie, since day one, deciding certain inclusions or not inclusions, who to cast and who not, what cameos could appear and who "wont appear", etc, etc, etc. Kinberg was controlling a lot of the production, directly with Boone.
Im really surprised not one single of these movie sites with sources have revealed anything about this, but if you had the chance to talk to someone involved in the production, he/she would tell you soooooooo much more than what we've heard, and yes, Kinberg has had a say. A lot.
So in the end, I really believe all this mess, Fox has always been famous for hurting productions and directors visions and writers. Since X3, then Origins, then F4 reboot, then Apocalypse likely (the whole Jennifer role), and now Dark Phoenix, with this push back and changing the third act. This is classic Fox. They are lost, they, most of the times, dont know what they really want. And there is a lot of insecurity inside the studio and with those execs, always. They dont believe in all the characters, because they, basically, dont really know the characters on first place, lol, and since other studios havent (hadnt) tried certain movies, Fox didnt see it for certain properties or solo characters.
Lets analyze....
why havent we gotten a Starjammers movie yet?
why havent we gotten a Storm solo movie yet?
why havent we gotten a female team movie yet?
why havent we gotten a x-men team movie with Cyclops as the big leader?
why havent we gotten a movie with Rogue treated like how we all know, love and expect?
did they watch the animated shows at least? didnt they see all that potential? Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Iceman.... they take almost decades to nail some stuff. Some stuff we wont ever see under Fox (cough Rogue cough).
It all comes down to the same thing: they are insecure. they were with Deadpool, it took them 7 years, and even then, they gave it a very small budget because they didnt believe the character would be a big hit. (this has been discussed everywhere). And they probably dont believe in Storm as a leading character either, neither in Cyclops as an A-list. they just dont believe.
so this whole "It happened and they wanted NM to be closer to IT and Strangers things". Yeah, I 100% believe it, lol.
its not coincidence that Kitty pryde movie was 'announced' after Wonder Woman huge hit and Captain Marvel and Gotham city sirens, Silver/Black cat were announced, or in preproduction in Carol's case. The big question mark is why they havent greenlight a Storm movie after Black Panther doing 1.2b. I give you a clue: Kinberg doesnt like her (inside word) So there we have it, even the creative team doesnt like certain characters. What can we expect from this studio and this mindset