The New Mutants exist. Marketing and promotional materials indicate otherwise, but director Josh Boone’s horror movie in the world of X-Men is coming next year following delays, reshoots, and rumors.
It’s been a roller-coaster ride for the former 20th Century Fox project, originally scheduled to come out in April, 2018. Two years after its initial delivery date, New Mutants is supposedly coming to theaters next year on April 3rd. Boone confirmed a new trailer will be released next month.
The Trials and Tribulations of The New Mutants
On a recent Instagram post, Boone revealed a new trailer from Disney is done. From the sound of it, The New Mutants isn’t the typical Disney product or Marvel comic book movie. Inspired by the likes of his idol, Stephen King, Boone set out to make a horror movie set in the X-Men universe. The director wanted to make an R-rated comic book movie following in the footsteps of Logan and Deadpool, but Fox had cold feet on the idea.
After the success of major R-rated horror movies, though, the studio had second thoughts and decided on reshoots to amp up the horror. With a cast including Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Ana Taylor-Joy (Glass), and the great Alice Braga (Queen of the South), scheduling these re-shoots took more time than expected given everyone’s busy schedules, which led to more delays. Apparently, the re-shoots occurred this year, or at least that was the plan.
Trailer No. 1 Promised Some Nightmare on Elm Street Fun
The delays and reshoots aren’t promising, but apparently, the movie was testing well during test screenings. It was even more well-received by preview audiences than the disastrous X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which ended the franchise on a low note both creatively and at the box-office.
The last two X-Men movies were the same old stories and didn’t pack enough excitement to get with the times. The New Mutants, however, looked like a fresh spin on a comic book movie, based on the first trailer:
Even cast members were left in the dark on when the movie would actually come out. Not sugarcoating the situation, Williams expressed confusion to Rolling Stone this year. “Who knows when the f— that’s gonna come out,” she said. “Hopefully this interview will make everyone hurry up a little bit.”
What Else We Know About The New Mutants
Boone and producer Simon Kingberg, who directed Dark Phoenix, had big plans for The New Mutants. They wanted to make a whole series of horror movies based on events from the X-Men comics.
Boone told IGN about his plans over two years ago:
“These are all going to be horror movies, and they’re all going to be their own distinct horror movies. This is certainly the “rubber-reality” supernatural horror movie. The next one will be a completely different kind of horror movie. Our take was just imagine the horror genre through comic book movies and make each one its own distinct sort of horror movie. Drawing from the big events we love in the comics.”
Talk about putting the cart in front of the horse. It’s an exciting way to tackle the X-Men franchise, which was in desperate need of fresh blood and stories, but after the abysmal performance of Dark Phoenix and all the problems with The New Mutants, the X-Men aren’t looking so hot these days. Unless The New Mutants comes out and makes big bank for Disney, which is possible, Boone’s trilogy sounds unlikely.
Boones Takes The Stand
It’s unfortunate The New Mutants hasn’t had a smoother journey to theaters, but Boone hasn’t let the experience keep him down. He’s an ambitious adventure with his adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Stand,” which he’s adapting and directing as a miniseries for CBS All Access. He once wanted to turn the epic story of good versus evil in the post-apocalypse as a movie, which many talented filmmakers have failed at, but his adaptation found its rightful home at CBS All Access.
With a damn fine cast assembled, Boone is taking a big swing with The Stand, one of the all-time great fantasy novels.
