New Mutants was scheduled to release in theaters today, but didn't due to the coronavirus pandemic - and it's actually just the latest in a long line of release dates it has missed. The film, which is set in the X-Men universe, was directed by Josh Boone and stars Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams, Glass' Anya Taylor-Joy, and Stranger Things' Charlie Heaton as part of a group of young mutants trapped in a secret facility, who must use their newly discovered powers to escape. Filming began way back in July 2017 and ended in September of the same year, yet it still hasn't released.
Before being acquired by Disney, 20th Century Fox wanted to retool New Mutants, but they never scheduled the needed reshoots. And now, Disney is allowing Boone to release the version he always wanted. However, getting it into theaters has been a struggle. Some people have started calling the movie "cursed," while others are calling for The New Mutants to be released directly to Disney+. The film would have benefited from one release date being pushed back to allow time for reshoots and completion of visual effects, but there have now been four dates scheduled and missed. The following is the list of release dates and the reasons why they never happened.
New Mutants was initially scheduled to release on April 13, 2018, and Fox even released a trailer in 2017 believing that the film would make that date. But it was ultimately pushed back to February 22, 2019. Then, wanting to give Dark Phoenix the priority, Fox delayed the film to August 2, 2019. Unfortunately, though, because of the circumstances surrounding Dark Phoenix's reshoots and the Fox acquisition, the X-Men film ended up taking New Mutants' release date that August. And so, it was finally decided that New Mutants would release on April 3, 2020. But now that release date has come and gone.
While previous release date changes were due to the studio wanting to release other films first and make room for the necessary reshoots, this recent delay was out of the studio's hands. With theaters shut down to the coronavirus, New Mutants was one of many films pushed back indefinitely. There is currently no word as to an exact release date at this time, but it has been said that there are hopes to get it out by the end of 2020. It will just have to find it's place among the other rescheduled Disney and Marvel movies. Seeing as Disney's new calendar doesn't include New Mutants, it's possible that the Mouse House is looking at other means of releasing the film.
Getting New Mutants onto the screen has been challenging for several years now. Fans will have to hope that the movie remains important enough to Disney to see a release in theaters. With its complicated history and the lack of uncertainty of if and where it could potentially fall in the timeline of the MCU, there are no certainties about this movie anymore. Hopefully, the movie will see the light of day soon enough for fans to judge on its merits and not its series of missed releases.