I think they’re going to screw it up like they did before. 

First, they haven’t given nearly enough screen-time to Scott and Jean for the story to land – the Phoenix Saga worked in the comics because it was the culmination of character arcs going back 17 years (it was also given 4 years to play out in the comics too), whereas in the movies this Scott and Jean have only had a few scenes together in X-Men: Apocalypse. Are audiences going to care enough about these two characters for the overall plot to land?

Second, the casting news suggests underlying weaknesses in the Singer X-Men movies are causing problems with story structure. The Phoenix Saga is about Scott and Jean, but the return of Fassbender, McAvoy, and Lawrence suggests they’ll be the central trio as they were in Apocalypse, Days of Future Past, and First Class, overshadowing every other element of what should be an ensemble cast. Also, Lilandra being described as the villain makes me worried that important people don’t get that the Dark Phoenix is the villain of the Phoenix Saga. 

Third, I’m a bit worried about the director. Kinberg is primarily a writer and producer – having written or co-written Last Stand, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse – and while he may well want to get the Phoenix Saga right this time, I worry that as a first time director he’ll hew pretty close to the Bryan Singer model (which as a writer and producer he was instrumental in creating and sustaining) that has shown itself to be increasingly creaky as time has passed since the first X-Men movie came out in 2000.