X-Men’s The New Mutants had been delayed many times long before Covid-19’s lockdown caused the movie’s release date to be pushed back even further. Though currently slated for an August release in the United States, it remains possible that the teen superhero-horror be delayed once again as the world continues to grapple with a pandemic. If so, it would continue a woeful pattern of starts-and-stops which have plagued director Josh Boone’s title from the outset.
Based on the Marvel comics New Mutants, the instalment was planned as the first in a trilogy of films. However, since Disney’s Marvel Studios gained the rights to the characters, The New Mutants is now understood to be the last instalment of the X-Men movie series. After X-Men: Dark Phoenix became the biggest box office bomb of 2019, The New Mutants seems headed in a different direction, reportedly leaning heavily into the horror elements over those of a classic superhero tentpole. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Boone confirmed that the film would be “a fully-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe. There are no costumes. There are no supervillains. We’re trying to do something very, very different.”
The New Mutants sees five young mutants discover their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, as they fight to escape their past and their captors. Casting brings together both established actors and new talent: Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams is cast as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane; The Witch actress Anya Taylor-Joy is Illyana Rasputin/Magik, sister of Colossus; Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton was cast as Sam Guthrie/Cannonball; Blue Hunt makes her movie debut as Danielle Moonstar/Mirage, whilst Henry Zaga rounds out the cast as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot. With its near six-year long development history was plagued by delays, changed releases, reshoots, and other problems, the end of the road may finally be in sight for The New Mutants.
Initial Development, From The Fault In Our Stars To Fox
After Boone finished work on The Fault in Our Stars in 2014, he created a comic book with The New Mutants co-writer Knate Lee using s from the original comics to show what a potential movie trilogy could look like. The pair took the comic to X-Men producer Simon Kinberg, who went on to produce the movie alongside Lauren Shuler when, in May 2015, Fox finalized a deal for Boone to direct The New Mutants. Boone and Lee were writing the script by March 2016, and in May it was confirmed that Professor X (James McAvoy) would have a significant role in the movie. At that time, Kinberg also expressed hopes that filming would begin towards the start of 2017. By August 2016, however, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber were working on a new draft of the script while Boone and Lee worked on another project. With a number of characters written out of the spin-off over various drafts, it was around that time that casting suggestions began being floated, namely that of Williams and Taylor-Joy.
Filming, Genre Disagreements & A First Release Date
Location scouting had begun by April 2017, and much of shooting was set to take place in Medfield State Hospital, where Shutter Island was also filmed. It was then that Fox gave The New Mutants its first release date: April 13th, 2018. By April 2017, casting was still being confirmed. Zaga, Heaton, Hunt, and Rosario Dawson, who would portray the team’s mentor Cecilia Reyes, were confirmed to have been cast by the beginning of June. Already by the end of June, Dawson exited the film and Alice Braga was cast in her stead.
It was around that time that it became clear Boone and Fox had clashing visions for the X-Men movie. Where Boone had repeatedly expressed wanting to make a horror movie, Fox pushed for a version without excessive violence and which was catered towards a young adult audience. The final shooting script included contributions from a host of new writers, including a writer’s room hired by Fox. Filming finally commenced on July 10th in Boston under the title Growing Pains and wrapped two months later, on the 16th September 2017.
Fox’s Change Of Heart, Reshoots & A Second Release Date
Three days of additional photography were planned to complete the YA-style movie Boone and Fox had agreed upon. This changed following the success of It, when Boone’s movie to avoid overlapping with Deadpool 2 in certain markets’ theatres and allowed more time for reshoots. Additional photography was set for mid-2018 and was expected to add new characters throughout the film.
Dark Phoenix, The Disney Acquisition Of Fox & A Third (And Fourth) Release Date
Mere months later in March 2018, Fox again delayed The New Mutants’ release to August 2nd, 2019, this time to accommodate for Dark Phoenix’s initial release date. It was also then that it became clear reshoots were more extensive than previously thought, with the acquisition of Fox by Disney in March 2019, it was also revealed that those reshoots had still not taken place. Later in 2019, Disney confirmed that the film would have its release date changed to accommodate Disney’s existing release schedule. Shortly after, The New Mutants had its fourth release date announced: April 3rd, 2020. Reshoots were then set to take place in the latter half of 2019, having taken so long to schedule because of the cast’s other commitments and because the creative team struggled to decide what needed to be reshot.
A Fifth (And Final?) Release Date
A month prior to the movie’s planned April 2020 release, Boone confirmed that the film was complete. He also explained that no reshoots had ever taken place, as work had halted when Disney’s acquisition of Fox had begun. By that time, reshoots were no longer feasible since Boone found the cast had aged too much since principal photography had taken place, so finishing the film involved completing the visual effects and editing. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, The New Mutants was removed from Disney’s schedule along with several other movies and was subsequently rescheduled for release on August 28th, 2020. This remains its expected release date though, as its timeline of delays shows, nothing is ever certain for The New Mutants.
