The X-Men franchise definitely had many powerful characters, but now that it is coming to its end, we might be getting a not-so-powerful movie that has all the chances to flop at the box office and become a failure both critically and commercially (much like The Dark Phoenix, actually).
That being said, there is still some hope that it will be a successful movie. After all, we won't know if it's any good until it is released in theaters this spring. Here are 5 Reasons The New Mutants Will Be Good (& 5 Reasons It Won't).
It Won't Be: The Marketing Campaign
Hardcore fans always keep an eye on the latest news concerning X-Men. However, not everyone is a hardcore fan, so you need to get the word out about your movie for the regular viewers to go to the cinema and watch it. This is why a solid marketing campaign is so important.
Well, what about the marketing for The New Mutants? Virtually non-existent. The release was postponed too many times, and when the trailer dropped, it didn't attract much attention. That being said, the film might still take off pretty well if the first viewers consider it to be great and spread the word about it.
It Will Be: The Trailer
If you have seen the trailer, then you probably know that it looks pretty good so far. The atmosphere that the trailer presents is dark and gritty just like a horror movie should have. The visuals look great too which means that the CGI will probably be decent in the film itself too.
On the other hand, it is easy to make a good trailer for a bad movie. This means that even with such a good trailer, the final product can turn out to be not that great after all. It is important not to jump to conclusions just yet and go into the theater with an open mind instead of conditioning yourself for the worst.
It Won't Be: The X-Men Formula
While you may know about the so-called "Marvel formula", not everyone knows about the "X-Men formula". You could argue that it is non-existent, but that is pretty much the essence of the X-Men formula: you never know what to expect from the movies featuring the mutants.
On one hand, you have X-Men: The Last Stand and The Dark Phoenix, but on the other hand, you have X-Men: The First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past. There are also the Deadpool movies and the unusual Logan. Consequently, The New Mutants has equally big chances to be both great and awful.
It Will Be: The Story
What makes this film so interesting and especially attractive to diehard fans is that it is based on a popular comic storyline about a group called the New Mutants. These were teenage superheroes-in-training who had their own comic series that was a spin-off of the main X-Men comic lines.
Keeping in mind that the source material is not a definitive indicator of the quality of the adaptation but can still influence how good the movie is, it's safe to assume that the film might actually turn out great because these beloved characters and exciting story are being used as the foundation for the script.
It Won't Be: Disney Acquired Fox & Did Nothing
One of the reasons why Spider-Man movies, X-Men, and the MCU were apart for such a long time is that Marvel had originally sold the film rights for its characters to different companies. Now that Disney has acquired Fox, the rights to the mutants and to the MCU characters are in the hands of one studio.
As a result, Disney will be releasing The New Mutants as its own movie. However, it seems that it will be somewhat of a mess based on the reshoots and the rumors. It seems that Disney didn't do anything to make the film better in any way. There were no reports about new reshoots, so we can expect the film to be released in the same version that it was after Fox finished working on it.
It Will Be: Directing & Writing
A crucial aspect of any film is directing and writing. If the script is bad, even a good director might not be able to make the movie decent. The screenplay for The New Mutants was written by Josh Boone and Knate Lee with Boone directing as well. Though Boone is only known for his directorial debut and then the critically acclaimed The Fault in Our Stars, there is something else that makes his directing special.
Boone and Lee were fans of the New Mutants characters while growing up. After finishing The Fault in Our Stars, they pitched a potential trilogy to Fox by putting together a comic book using panels from the comic line to show what the movies would look like. Even judging by this, you can clearly see that they are quite passionate about the project, and dedication often helps filmmakers create a better movie.
It Won't Be: X-Men Have Ended
Another problem with the X-Men franchise as a whole is that it has ended. This is quite similar to the situation with the Black Widow movie. The franchise about the powerful mutants has come to an end with The Dark Phoenix pretty much concluding it in a somewhat satisfactory way.
The New Mutants is "torn away" from the main story anyway. We won't see any characters we already know and it also has a much darker tone than the usual X-Men movies. But then again, this can both turn out to be an advantage and a disadvantage. New things are not always good, but improvements can be made nonetheless.
It Will Be: The Cast
With new characters being introduced, there will be many additions to the cast. Many of these actors and actresses are not very well-known, but some of them have made a name for themselves in recent years. For example, you will probably know Maisie Williams who played Arya Stark in Game of Thrones.
You might also know Anya-Taylor Joy from M. Night Shyamalan's Glass and Split as well as Robert Eggers' The Witch. Another actor, Charlie Heaton, is known for portraying Jonathan Byers in Stranger Things. So far, this looks like a great cast with some young, aspiring actors and actresses.
It Won't Be: The Reshoots & Moving The Release Date
More often than not, reshoots are a bad sign. In fact, they are a terrible sign that something is not okay. And most of the time, after the reshoots are complete, the movie is not much better than it was before. Obviously, the fact that The New Mutants had reshoots cannot benefit the movie a lot.
Another matter is the release date which was moved three times! It was originally set for April 13, 2018, which is two years prior to the current release date - April 3, 2020. The reasons for these reschedules were different according to various reports, but nobody can say for sure if these reasons were real or not. Nonetheless, it definitely didn't do any good for the reputation of the film.
It Will Be: The Tone & Atmosphere
As mentioned earlier, The New Mutants will be taking a completely different direction from what all the previous X-Men movies had. This will supposedly be a horror film which is quite unusual for superhero movies (some notable exceptions being the recent Brightburn and the Blade trilogy).
Considering that the horror course for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been changed to a more PG-13 one and there seem to be no other horror superhero movies on the horizon, The New Mutants could actually become a hit thanks to its uniqueness in this sense.