Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox was major news, which had a rippling effect on various upcoming movies. Josh Boone's The New Mutants was one of those movies, and will be the final installment in the X-Men franchise as we know it. The movie was pushed back a number of times after the original trailer arrived back in 2017. But Boone recently revealed a way that the delays actually benefitted the long gestating blockbuster.
The New Mutants had its fair share of delays, as 20th Century Fox pushed the horror inspired superhero movies two separate times to avoid competing with Deadpool 2 and Dark Phoenix respectively. And when the Disney/Fox merger happened, it seemingly put Josh Boone's blockbuster in jeopardy. But The New Mutants is finally heading to theaters next month, and Boone recently explained one way it the delays helped the movie. When speaking about the editing process at the point of the delays, he said:
In the editing, we were probably 75 percent done. We came back and finished it up. It took a couple months, and it was nice to be able to come back. Knate [Lee], my co-writer, and I, we hadn’t seen it in a year. We did a bunch of things here and there that we hadn’t thought about or noticed a year before.
Well, that's definitely a silver lining. The years break between The New Mutants' original editing and completion might have been a logistical nightmare, but it also allowed Josh Boone and Knate Lee to come back with a fresh point of view. And in that way, it may have actually benefitted the quality of the mutant-centric movie. Talk about perspective.
Josh Boone's comments to EW help to peel back the curtain on The New Mutants' long road to theaters. The upcoming movie was largely at the mercy of 20th Century Fox's scheduling. And once Disney and Fox's deal was in motion, it further complicated things. But there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel, with Boone and company completing the movie before its theatrical run.
While The New Mutants didn't get any reshoots, Josh Boone was able to complete the upcoming blockbuster with his original vision. Despite rumors to the contrary, it'll be rated PG-13. So while horror will clearly have an influence on the movie, it wasn't made terrifying enough to garner an R rating. The newest trailers teased some of the more traditional comic book movie elements, especially for Anya Taylor-Joy's Magik.
X-Men fans are excited to see The New Mutants in theaters, following rumors that it could end up streaming after the Disney/Fox deal. Luckily the X-Men spinoff will be brought to audiences the way it was originally intended-- although the actors' aging put reshoots out of question.
The New Mutants is set to arrive in theaters on April 3rd. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
