Director Simon Kinberg teases “extraterrestrial characters” in X-Men film DARK PHOENIX.

While doing press rounds for DEADPOOL 2, producer Simon Kinberg opened up a little more about his upcoming directorial-debut DARK PHOENIX. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Kinberg says his adaption of the iconic Marvel Comics storyline will be closer than 2006’s X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, which had a much different take on Jean Grey’s dark turn.

“It’s much more loyal to the original comic than X-Men 3, which told the Dark Phoenix story. It’s a movie that involves extraterrestrial characters, which is not something that we’ve done in the X-Men franchise before, and is something that is a huge part of the Dark Phoenix saga in the comics.”

Cast members Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast) previously commented that their film is trying something different with the comic book film genre and that it’s going to be much more dramatic fare.

Kinberg confirmed this, promising it’ll be “a little less operatic” than past X-Men entries, saying, “It’s more intense and it’s more real and grounded, and hopefully more relatable.”

In related news, an additional look at the film’s logo is now online, thanks to Javjer Momo. It appears to come from a promotional item of some sort, possibly from an international convention? We got our first look at the logo last month via a leaked snapshot taken during 20th Century Fox’s video presentation at CinemaCon.

Dark Phoenix arrive in theaters on February 14, 2019.