According to director Josh Boone, The New Mutants was nearly complete when the Disney-Fox deal sidelined it. The New Mutants was initially scheduled for release in 2018, but after being pushed back multiple times, fans began to wonder if the horror-tinged superhero flick would ever see the light of day. Finally, the film scored an April 2020 release date, and it looks like this one will stick. The New Mutants follows a group of teenagers being held in a secret facility as they discover their strange abilities. The cast includes Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Henry Zaga, and Alica Braga.
After watching The New Mutants' spooky trailers, fans wondered if the film could end up with an R rating. However, last week it was officially declared PG-13, though it's definitely still leaning into the horror aspect when it comes to the marketing. Despite the prolonged journey to the big screen, Boone is reportedly very happy with the final cut of the film, something his stars have echoed. The New Mutants will be the last Fox X-Men film to arrive before mutants join the MCU.
Boone recently spoke with EW about The New Mutants' post-production process. The Disney-Fox deal was the biggest culprit behind The New Mutants' multiple delays, and according to Boone, it stalled the editing process. As Boone explained:
In the editing, we were probably 75 percent done. We came back and finished it up. It took a couple months, and it was nice to be able to come back. Knate [Lee], my co-writer, and I, we hadn’t seen it in a year. We did a bunch of things here and there that we hadn’t thought about or noticed a year before.
It sounds like, as frustrating as the delays no doubt were, The New Mutants might have benefited from the time away. Boone and his team were able to see new things when they revisited the footage which may have made the movie stronger. Boone has previously said the theatrical cut of The New Mutants is the version he set out to make, with the horror influences and lack of extraneous X-Men references kept intact. Boone also explained that, despite reports saying otherwise, The New Mutants never underwent any reshoots.
Regardless of how it performs financially, The New Mutants is likely already a success in Boone's eyes because he was able to hold onto his original vision. Directors often complain of studio influence when it comes to blockbuster projects, and Disney is especially notorious for stepping in when they think a movie isn't up to their standards. It could help that most of The New Mutants was made while under Fox, though at least Disney didn't try to interfere too much when it came time to complete the film. With only a month left before The New Mutants finally makes its way out into the world, fans will soon get the chance to see if the wait was worth it.
Source: EW
