The New Mutants once looked like a very promising entry in the X-Men franchise, but its infamously troubled production period has left it delayed by over a year and a half after its original planned release date. The expected substantial reshoots, that are said to significantly alter the tone of the film, have yet to occur, however, which leaves the fate of the movie very much up in the air.
Recently, rumors have arisen that Fox might just cut their losses and drop The New Mutants on the Hulu streaming service instead. And it looks like that’s exactly what may happen, as X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner doesn’t sound too certain about the film’s future. While speaking at the TCA winter tour, Donner admitted that she wasn’t sure what the release plan is just yet but insisted that she’d rather see it land in cinemas as she’d “hate” the alternative.
“I want to see it released (theatrically), I’d hate to see it thrown at Hulu.”
Donner’s definitely not mincing her words here and would clearly see it as a waste if The New Mutants was “thrown at Hulu,” as she puts it. From her tone, it seems like there’s a bit of battle going on behind the scenes about what should happen with the movie, with Donner herself no doubt being on the side that wants to get it on cinema screens in time for August.
The New Mutants, starring a cast of talented young actors like Glass’ Anya Taylor-Joy, Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams and Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton, looked like a surefire hit after the first trailer got fans excited for a horror-themed Marvel movie. It turned out that the trailer was misleading though, which caused the studio to lose faith in what they had and led to them trying to up the horror content of the film with reshoots. With the stars’ busy schedules, though, additional production has proven difficult to schedule and, last we heard, director Josh Boone and Fox were struggling to see eye to eye in regards to how the final cut should look.
It would be a shame if the last X-Men movie before the merger turned out to be a dud, so let’s hope the studio can get its act together and get The New Mutants in theaters in time for August 2nd.