Disney is reportedly unimpressed with the upcoming X-Men spin-off The New Mutants. The Josh Boone-directed film is the final Fox X-Men movie yet to be released by Disney. It will introduce a whole new group of mutants in what is said to be the first horror-driven X-Men film. Despite the movie having a star-studded cast and a competent director, The New Mutants has had a lot of setbacks ever since it was announced back in 2015.
Initially, The New Mutants and Dark Phoenix were both delayed so that the films could undergo reshoots. Many films have to reshoot certain scenes, but the reshoots on The New Mutants were rumored to cover almost half of the film. That being said, as of March, the reshoots for The New Mutants still haven't happened. The film was then delayed several more times and when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, The New Mutants was pushed back all the way to April 2020. Now, things are continuing to look bleak for Boone's superhero flick.
According to Variety, Disney is not impressed by The New Mutants. When going into detail on the problems Disney has faced since they bought 20th Century Fox assets, Variety reports Disney isn't confident in the upcoming X-Men movie and is worried about The New Mutant's box office profitability. Insiders are claiming Dark Phoenix underperformed partly because the film was ignored by Disney and didn't get appropriate attention when it came to marketing, which could also happen with The New Mutants. The report also claims any films looking for money for reshoots must submit detailed storyboards to convince Disney to approve the cost of reshoots.
When The New Mutants is eventually released, it will be the last X-Men film by Fox, but the superpowered mutants will soon be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That being said, Marvel will be rebooting the entire series, with Deadpool reportedly being the only character that won't be recast. The Fantastic Four (another Marvel property formerly owned by Fox) will also be rebooted for the MCU, with a new Fantastic Four movie confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con.
Things only seem to be getting worse for those eager to see The New Mutants. With Dark Phoenix heavily attributing to Disney's third-quarter loss, the company is no doubt preparing for The New Mutants to perform just as bad, if not worse than Dark Phoenix. This new report could also support the claim that The New Mutants might be released on Hulu, which would be cheaper than giving the film a theatrical release and having it flop. For now, though, fans can expect to see The New Mutants in theaters in April 2020 until Disney gives another update.
Source: Variety
