The New Mutants is taking its sweet time in getting here. The movie’s first trailer arrived all the way back in 2017, with its horror-edged, YA-themed take on the X-Men franchise leaving fans hungry to see more. Unfortunately, though, it was delayed a number of times due to Fox’s plans changing and, while it was set to be finally released this April by Disney, the COVID-19 outbreak has put paid to that.
You might think that the incredibly long journey to the screen has raised hopes too high and director Josh Boone must be nervous about how it’ll be received. That doesn’t seem to be the case at all, though. While speaking to Empire Magazine, the filmmaker revealed that he thinks, whatever happens, The New Mutants will go down better than Dark Phoenix, which he describes – fairly – as “one of the worst-reviewed movies of last year.”
“Look, you can only go up after Dark Phoenix. That’s not to say anything bad about the people involved, but it was what it was.”
Boone then went on to add that the endless delays have actually boosted his confidence in the film as it’s been so thoroughly vetted and tested by this point, that he’s sure it’ll go down well. That said, this interview was conducted before the latest hold-up, so he might be a tad more frustrated now.
“Honestly, I feel less pressure now than I did ahead of [the first slated release date]. Because we’ve tested our movie so many times, and audiences have loved it.”
Dark Phoenix was pitched as the final entry in the X-Men saga, so it was doubly crushing that the movie stunk when it dropped in cinemas last summer. Given that what we’ve seen so far has gone down a treat with fans, everyone’s keeping their fingers crossed that The New Mutants will turn out to be a much more fitting closer to the 20-year franchise. There’s just the small matter of actually getting to see it, as Disney has yet to give it a new release date.