Fox's New Mutants is going to be unlike any other X-Men film to date. The long-anticipated spinoff film - which is set to be directed by The Fault in Our Stars helmer Josh Boone - has been in the works at 20th Century Fox for multiple years. But while the existence of the project and those attached to it have been common knowledge for quite a while now, Fox has been noticeably tight-lipped about New Mutants, only choosing to release several small updates and teases from the project being dropped over the past couple of months.

However, with production on the film expected to begin later this summer, more and more details and reports from inside the New Mutants camp have begun to surface as a result. Following the recent confirmation of Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams as two of the film's lead cast members, it looks like Fox is finally ready to start opening the lid on what it is they've been developing with Boone for this obscure comics adaptation.

While recently speaking with EW about the film, Boone announced that production on New Mutants - which will reportedly follow five mutant teenagers who are being held in a secret facility against their will - is set to begin in July of this year. Boone also confirmed the previously described "Stephen King meets John Hughes" tone of the film to be true, promising that New Mutants is going to be the first true horror film of the X-Men cinematic universe:

“We are making a full-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.”

Similar to Fox's recent X-Men outing, the R-rated LoganNew Mutants looks to have a much more intimate and darker tone than most comic book movies being released today. But as Boone accurately points out, the film centers on a group of mutants when they are at their most dangerous, just discovering and learning how to control their powers for the first time, and because of that, the stakes have to be intensely personal. The report also teases that it will follow the group as they "battle the dangers of their powers, as well as the sins of their past," with no goals of trying to "save the world — they’re just trying to save themselves."

While just a few years ago, the thought of there being a horror movie about teenage mutants in the X-Men universe, would have seemed outlandish, it's strikingly less so nowadays. All of this just plays into Fox's recent confidence and desire to reach beyond the traditional territory of modern day superhero movies, as both Logan and Deadpool have proven, audiences and critics are ready and willing to accept a superhero movie that tests the expectations of its audience. So New Mutants promises to just be the latest addition to what is quickly becoming, for better or worse, one of the most experimental cinematic universes that exists in the film and television industry right now.

MORE: X-23 Unlikely to Star In New Mutants Film

Source: EW

Key Release Dates