On the heels of the fourth New Mutants delay, Disney should just release the movie on one of its two streaming platforms, Hulu or Disney+. The final film in the X-Men franchise is among the latest batch of movies to be delayed on account of the coronavirus, which is rapidly turning the film and TV industry upside down.
New Mutants, a movie that focuses on a new group of young X-Men characters, has gone through a tumultuous post-production period. It was originally scheduled for an April 2018 release, but was pushed back to February 2019 to accommodate reshoots (that never happened). After New Mutants was acquired by Disney along with 20th Century Studios' (formerly 20th Century Fox) other movie and TV assets, the movie was delayed yet again, with its release date moved back another year to February 22, 2020. This was followed by discouraging reports that Disney was not impressed with New Mutants.
This time, New Mutants was delayed due to COVID-19, or the coronavirus. Disney has decided to remove the release dates for three of its upcoming movies: New Mutants, Mulan, and Antlers. All three have been delayed indefinitely. In the case of New Mutants, instead of scheduling a new date, Disney should forego a theatrical release altogether and just put the movie on Disney+ or Hulu.
In most situations, this would be considered a major loss for the studio, but the money that went into New Mutants was spent a long time ago. Also, if Disney is anticipating a box office flop, this solution would allow them to avoid another box office disaster like Dark Phoenix. Given all the problems that have plagued New Mutants over the last few years, Disney has plenty of reasons to have tremendous doubts about its box office potential. Furthermore, New Mutants doesn't necessarily need to be released in theaters. After all, it's a standalone story and the last movie in the X-Men franchise. It's not as if the movie was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nor is it going to lead anything else.
One silver living of not having a theatrical release is that it would greatly benefit whichever streaming service receives the movie. Even if New Mutants isn't able to draw large crowds at the theaters, it should still manage to find some degree of popularity on Disney+ or Hulu, due in part to the interest surrounding it, a lack of competition, and its association with Marvel and the X-Men. New Mutants would instantly become Hulu's most dominant movie for the time being. Or it could release on Disney+ and become a major addition to its rather small lineup of original movies. Neither of these solutions may be what Disney would consider a desirable outcome, but it could still be the best way for them to deal with this messy situation.