X-Men: Days of Future Past helped Twentieth Century Fox not only bring together the casts of the original X-Men trilogy and the new period-set prequels, but it turned over a new leaf for the franchise. The ensemble epic won over critics, fans and set a new box office record for the series while also helping original director Bryan Singer (sort of) reset the universe. It's all part of writer-producer Simon Kinberg's plan (and why Fox signed him for a long-term deal), a plan that keeps getting bigger.

As I write this, X-Men: Apocalypse is in production in Montreal and Deadpool is shooting in Vancouver while final edits take place on Fantastic Four. Later this year, Gambit begins production, all adding to a Marvel universe separate from Disney's Avengers universe that has its own 2-3 movies coming out every year. Wolverine 3, the last movie for Hugh Jackman, is also part of that package and today we can add The New Mutants as well.

Deadline has the scoop on the news that Fox has greenlit The New Mutants with Josh Boone (The Fault In Our Stars) set to direct. Boone, after making a ton of money for Fox with the low-budget Fault, will co-write the script with Knate Gwaltney (of Jackass fame). Kinberg will of course produce the film with Lauren Shuler Donner (producer of all things X-Men). Simon Kinberg:

"We’re so excited to explore this new part of the X-Men universe, and so excited to do it with Josh, who is uniquely suited to tell this story about young characters."

No date has been announced for The New Mutants yet but Fox still has a flag planted on the weekend of July 13th, 2018 for an unspecified X-Men project, something we'd expect to be for the next mainline X-Men series installment. It's possible New Mutants could be for that date instead, and there's still Jeff Wadlow's X-Force script sitting somewhere in Fox HQ waiting for a greenlight as well.

With rumors that Apocalypse (and Wolverine 3) may signal the end of Bryan Singer's X-Men universe, perhaps The New Mutants is simply a re-branded continuation of the core X-series with the new young stars introduced in Apocalypse. We do know for certain that Apocalypse will change things and that it is the "end" of the First Class trilogy. Although, we'd like to think the new Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Storm, etc. will continue and become the new X-Men into the future with the New Mutants running alongside them, featuring different characters.

If the title of this film follows the comics, we've already met a few of the New Mutants (Sunspot and Warpath) in the future portion of X-Men: Days of Future Past already, although when it comes to team rosters, Fox hasn't stuck with the source material. What we really want to see though is the long-awaited introduction of the time-traveling mutant known as Cable, the future son of Cyclops who shares an integral relationship with Deadpool.

Given the time-travel story of Days of Future Past and the resulting introduction of Apocalypse, not to mention what Cable and Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld keeps saying on social media about Cable coming to the movies, it's just a matter of when and how. And like Deadpool, Cable can be the bridge between New Mutants and the creation of X-Force - just like it happened in the books.

Next: How Will Contracts Affect the X-Men Movies After 'Apocalypse'?

Fantastic Four opens August 7th, 2015, Deadpool on February 12th, 2016, X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27th, 2016, Gambit on October 7th, 2016, Wolverine 3 (not the official title) on March 3rd, 2017, Fantastic Four 2 on June 9th, 2017, and some as-yet unspecified X-Men film on July 13th, 2018.

Source: Deadline

Art from New Mutants Volume 3 #20 by Dave Wilkins.