Ever since shooting first wrapped almost three years ago, The New Mutants has been plagued by a constant series of setbacks, with many labeling the movie as cursed. No longer the last installment of Fox’s X-Men franchise, the spinoff is now the first to be released under the Disney banner, and the new rights-holders ordered that any references to previous mutant outings be removed.
A lot of people were skeptical that The New Mutants would ever be dropped into theaters at all, especially when it was briefly advertised to purchase digitally on Amazon and fans were demanding that the Mouse House release it straight to Disney Plus instead. However, director Josh Boone admitted that the movie was contractually obligated to receive a theatrical run, and of course it arrives in the middle of a pandemic when the industry is on its knees.
With the fifth and final release date just two days away now, The New Mutants is finally poised to debut on the big screen after being pushed back and pulled off the schedule over and over again since early 2018, but it shouldn’t really come as a surprise at this point to hear that the beleaguered production has hit yet another stumbling block.
Critics are now refusing to review the film, because it would force them to visit theaters during a pandemic, and Disney have so far been unwilling to send out screeners or hold socially-distant viewings, which is causing a lot of well-known and prominent critics to boycott The New Mutants entirely until they’re afforded the opportunity to enjoy it in an environment they feel comfortable with.
We will review theatrical releases when presented with a safe way to do so – screener or socially distanced screening – but that’s not an option in this case.
— Brian Tallerico (@Brian_Tallerico) August 25, 2020
Press screenings are still scheduled to take place this week, so reviews will be up by the time it hits theaters on Friday, but we won’t get the full picture of how the movie has turned out if so many prominent publications are refusing to put themselves at risk to watch it.