Before cinematic universes and comic book movies became common, there was 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise. The property is still going strong, although there have been a series of delays for X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Gambit, and The New Mutants. The latter is directed by Josh Boone, and is teased to be the first horror-inspired comic book movie ever. As such, fans of both horror and superheroes are left wondering what The New Mutants might be rated, especially now that Fox has had success with R-rated projects like Logan and Deadpool. Longstanding X-Men producer Simon Kinberg recently spoke to the upcoming movie's rating, saying:
It's the kind of movie that could go R, or it could be a hard PG-13. As I was saying before in terms of subgenres or the genre, it is obviously teased as a horror film, and most horror films these days are R-rated, but it stars a very young cast, so we'll see. It really is what the movie wants to be. The studio is open to either rating... Traditionally, superhero movies are PG-13 other than Logan and the Deadpool movies, and generally, horror films are R-rated, so we'll see where this one falls. It is a very scary, edgy movie.
While The New Mutants is far from being officially rated by the MPAA, it seems that Josh Boone, Simon Kinberg, and everyone involved is open to the highly anticipated project getting an R-rating. We'll just have to see how hard the project ultimately goes in its moments of horror and jump scares.
Simon Kinberg's comments to Collider are sure to excite the hardcore X-Men fans out there, who have enjoyed seeing R-rated projects on the silver screen. While the superhero genre is almost exclusively PG-13, that all changed with the insane box office performance of Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool. While the MCU is keeping things a little more family friendly, it's fun to see the OG superhero franchise taking big risks. Especially when it includes a horror movie set within the X-Men universe.
Aside from the concept itself, The New Mutants has a ton of excitement surrounding the film's cast. Game of Thrones fan favorite Maisie Williams, Stranger Things' Charlie Heaton, and Split actress Anya Taylor-Joy all play young mutants, who may have the potential for future crossovers. Plenty of Williams' fans would love to see her Wolfsbane interact with Sophie Turner's Jean Grey. And technically, Taylor-Joy's Magik is Colossus' sister. So the possibilities seem endless. As long as Fox doesn't push The New Mutants back again. That trailer is just too good to wait on.
The New Mutants is currently set to arrive on August 2, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
