Director Josh Boone's X-Men spinoff The New Mutants is officially finished, and he celebrated the occasion by posting a photo teasing the movie's villain Demon Bear. The last of Fox's X-Men films, New Mutants will finally reach theaters in April, about two years after it was originally scheduled to open in April 2018 (before, infamously, it was delayed for reshoots that never took place). Of course, in light of the developing situation with the coronavirus outbreak, some have wondered if New Mutants will end up being pushed back yet again as a precaution. For the time being, however, Disney and the newly-redubbed 20th Century Studios are staying the course.
In the meantime, Boone is keeping busy by putting the finishing touches on his belated Marvel movie. Anya Taylor-Joy, who costars as Illyana Rasputin aka. Magik in the film, confirmed that Boone had completed New Mutants' final cut last month, and the film has since received an official PG-13 rating for "violent content" and "disturbing/bloody images", among other things. That includes the villainous Demon Bear, who Boone has teased yet again in a newly-released BTS photo from the project.
In a post on Instagram, Boone confirmed New Mutants is all done, right on down to its sound mix. To mark the occasion, he posted an image of himself with the film's sound editor Donald Sylvester and editor Andrew Buckland (who are coming off their Oscar victories for Ford v Ferrari), in addition to sound mixer David Giammarco (an Oscar nominee for Ford v Ferrari) and Emmy-winning music editor Chris McGeary (Smallville). As you can see below, the five are set against the backdrop of a screen showing Demon Bear in the movie.
Introduced in 1983 by New Mutants comic book creators Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, Demon Bear is a mysterious being that feeds on negative human emotions and haunts the dreams of New Mutants member Danielle Moonstar aka. Mirage (played by Blu Hunt in the film). It's been speculated Boone's movie will re-invent and ground the character by making Demon Bear a manifestation of Mirage's mutant ability to create illusions based on people's fears. If so, that could make for a captivating bit of psycho-horror storytelling that combines elements of the Demon Bear Saga with the famous Dark Phoenix storyline. Last year's Dark Phoenix was the second live-action adaptation of the latter to disappoint critically after 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, but it's possible Boone and his co-writer Knate Lee will succeed where Simon Kinberg (who wrote both of those movies) did not, should that prove to be true.
In either event, New Mutants marks an exciting move into horror for superhero movies. Save for Venom, New Mutants and this July's Morbius comic book adaptation are the first modern superhero films to dive into the genre, tackling stories like the Demon Bear Saga in the process. For Boone, it could even serve as the beginning of a creatively fruitful run with horror, ahead of the release of his mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand for CBS All Access, which he also references in his Instagram post. Pending a coronavirus-related delay (knock on wood), we will find out for certain when The New Mutants arrives in a few weeks.
Source: Josh Boone
