We’ve been talking about The New Mutants for so long they’re more like “The Old Mutants” at this point. The first trailer came out way back in 2017 and ever since, rumours and speculation about its release became so abundant it truly felt like the movie would never happen. Well, it’s happening. This weekend. And a new article on the film’s development apparently reveals that while many of the rumours were inaccurate, the basis for them was absolutely accurate.
In the three years fans have waited for release, the biggest rumour surrounding The New Mutants was that much of the movie had been reshot. Then, several months ago, we found that that wasn’t true. In fact, there weren’t any reshoots at all. However, in an in-depth, must-read feature over at Vulture, it’s reported that the studio largely tried to get the film changed before filming.
According to Vulture, writer-director Josh Boone initially pitched a version of The New Mutants that was going to be very John Hughes. Very Breakfast Club. The script he delivered, though, was not that. It was more raw and scary than the studio expected. So, according to the piece, several new writers were brought in to do rewrites and offer suggestions, almost all of which were rejected or revised by Boone. This culminated in an almost intervention-type meeting where Fox brought all of those writers together to go over their ideas with Boone, who stood his ground on his vision.
From there, Boone shot his vision of the movie, which the studio saw and wasn’t totally behind. In fact, one executive reportedly floated the idea of reshooting the entire movie because the initial budget was so low compared to other X-Men films, shooting it a second time would still be relatively cheap for the franchise.
Then, of course, Disney bought Fox and the film just kind of sat in limbo for years. That timing made reshoots impossible even if they were wanted, because all of its young stars aged significantly. Eventually, Boone got ahold of the film again, finished it how he wanted, and now — after multiple delays — it will finally hit the big screen.
We urge you to head to Vulture to read more details on this crazy story, including a version of the script that reportedly had Storm as a “sadistic jailer.”
For better or worse, The New Mutants will be released this weekend.
For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.