At this point, it would be really tragic if coronavirus caused Disney to push the release of “The New Mutants” even further than its April release date. After delays and delays while under the Fox umbrella, the ‘X-Men’ spin-off film finally got a firm release date by Disney after the merger and now, the world is dealing with an outbreak and studios are scrambling to figure everything out. Please, Disney, no matter what, just release the damn film. At least so we can stop talking about things such as reshoots that never happened.
Speaking to EW, “The New Mutants” director Josh Boone was asked about the mythical reshoots that were reportedly supposed to take place years ago on the superhero horror film. To catch you up to speed, “The New Mutants” filming began in the summer of 2017 and everything seemed to be going great. Then, reports of studio disapproval gained headlines, with Fox apparently unhappy with Boone’s more horror-filled cut of the film. The reports claimed that the studio wanted Boone to go back and do massive reshoots that would greatly change the film and add a completely CGI character.
Nothing was confirmed, but the film was delayed. Then reports of Disney buying Fox came about and “The New Mutants” was put in a holding pattern. Now, three years later, the film is supposed to arrive in theaters and those reshoots apparently never happened because…well, the actors got older.
“Everybody said we did reshoots! We’ve never done reshoots,” explained Boone. “And I’ll tell you this: if there hadn’t been a merger, I’m sure we would’ve done reshoots the same way every movie does pickups. We didn’t even do that because by the time the merger was done and everything was settled, everybody’s older.”
Actress Maisie Williams added, “The movie is exactly the movie we set out to make. I was nervous when they were talking about reshooting or re-editing that it was gonna be very different, but honestly, it’s exactly what we set out to do.”
READ MORE: ‘The New Mutants’ Director Confirms “There Was Never A Plan For An R-Rated Movie”
Yes, the years between filming and reshoots would have led to some continuity issues, but there’s likely more to the story than just aging. It’s clear that Disney is happy enough with “The New Mutants” as it is now to release it. However, it’s also obvious that there’s not a massive marketing campaign going on, as you might expect from a superhero film from a major studio. You can’t help but think that maybe Disney is just trying to mitigate its losses and release the film without putting a bunch of money into it, and then just hope for the best. And let’s be real, reshoots are expensive.
Regardless, “The New Mutants” is still on the schedule for April 3. For now.
