“Will We Ever See The New Mutants?” That was the headline from a story we first posted on June 11, 2019. Why weren’t we sure? Fox released the first trailer in early October 2017. A skeptical Disney has shelved it repeatedly since then. Thanks to a litany of reported “problems” its release date was originally pushed back from April 2018 to February 2019, then to August 2019, and finally to “possibly never.” Entire movies have been written from scratch, cast, filmed, and released since then. But finally, after years of delays and false starts, The New Mutants is set to arrive in theaters this April. And we’re pretty sure the movie’s new trailer means it’s actually going to happen. Probably.
From the official synopsis:
“20th Century Fox in association with Marvel Entertainment presents The New Mutants, an original horror thriller set in an isolated hospital where a group of young mutants is being held for psychiatric monitoring. When strange occurrences begin to take place, both their new mutant abilities and their friendships will be tested as they battle to try and make it out alive.”
Calling post-production of The New Mutants “troubled” is like calling the sun “warm.” Disney, who already saw X-Men: Dark Phoenix bomb at the box office, has never put its support behind the Fox-developed film. Unimpressed Mouse House executives were also responsible for reported massive reshoots in February 2018. Yet, despite all of that, writer-director Josh Boone said on Instagram that the version of the movie coming to theaters is his version.
What I’d tell ya, New Mutants will be Boone’s version https://t.co/yeWAueJOfL pic.twitter.com/DJZrFOmwl6
— KC Walsh (@TheComixKid) December 31, 2019
A two-and-a-half-year delay doesn’t exactly instill confidence in any film. However, we’d rather see one artist’s vision than a film made by committee of people who don’t agree. That doesn’t mean it will be good. All of the delays don’t mean the movie will be bad either. There’s a reason we were so excited for it way back in 2017. Based on the Marvel comic originally created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, it has a great premise. Mutants stories are everywhere these days, but not many qualify as pure horror. Trapping a bunch of teenagers who can barely control their incredible powers in a creepy mansion has the potential to be a lot of fun.
The film also features has a fantastic cast with some great young Hollywood actors (though they’re not quite as young now). It stars Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), Blu Hunt (The Hollow), and Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why). And Alice Braga (Queen of the South) plays the group’s mentor, Dr. Cecilia Reyes.
20th Century Fox
Then of course there’s this trailer, which is……fine! It’s definitely not the greatest teaser we’ve ever seen. But it’s far from the worst. Really all we we want is to find out for ourselves if it’s good. And we’re finally going to do that on April 3, 2020.
We think. With this movie you really never know.
Featured Image: 20th Century Fox