The New Mutants theatrical cut will be Josh Boone’s original PG-13 horror vision

27 Months. That’s how long ago Fox released the first trailer for The New Mutants, their horror-centric X-Men spinoff that would shirk away from the costumed superheroics of the wider franchise. And now after all that time, after Fox’s X-Men cinematic universe is actually no more, we finally have a second trailer. And it… actually doesn’t look bad at all. But where has this film been all this time?

Originally filmed back in 2017, the Josh Boone-directed X-Men spinoff had already been in trouble way before Fox was snapped up by Disney last year, prompting massive schedule changes. I had lost track of how many delays and reports of reshoots and rewrites to change the tone and add/remove characters we had heard as Fox and franchise producer Simon Kinberg went back and forth on exactly what type of movie they were actually trying to make. Not even the cast of the film knew what was going on. Hell, there had even been reports that Boone had essentially been removed from the production with Kinberg taking over editing. At one point it looked highly dubious that Fox was even going to release the movie, and once the studio got taken over that uncertainty intensified. Why would Disney not just toss this film on the trash heap seeing as how the X-Men franchise is going to be rebooted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe anyway?

Well, not only is Disney/Marvel Studios actually still releasing The New Mutants – and in theatres, no less! – but it would appear that somebody there has decided to give Boone his proper due. In the run-up to the release of yesterday’s trailer, the filmmaker has begun promoting the film again on social media. And in an Instagram post he revealed that this trailer was actually supervised by himself and co-writer Knate Lee.

That’s actually an oddity for many big Hollywood tentpoles as trailers are usually outsourced to other companies to cut. But that’s not where Boone’s touch ended. Responding to a comment asking if this means that the version we’re getting will be the original one that Boone shot, the director responded by saying that “I wouldn’t be promoting it here if it wasn’t.” Scooper KC Walsh also went on to explain that their sources are hearing pretty good responses to Boone’s cut as well.

This actually sounds rather promising. I would rather have a filmmaker’s singular vision brought to life, good or bad, then have the muddled product of filmmaking-by-committee trying to please studio suits and marketing execs. And this is Boone’s vision. Right down to the fact that it’s going to be PG-13.

For a while, there were rumours that Boone wanted to make an R-rated film and Fox was trying to force him to lower the age restriction, but the director put the record straight yesterday when answering another comment. Bill Sienkiewicz, the legendary comic book artist/writer whose “Demon Bear” New Mutants story arc actually inspired Boone’s movie doubled down on this, having seemingly seen this cut of the film.

I have to admit, based on that trailer and what I’m hearing from Boone and co, this film has gone from being a long-running bad punchline to an intriguing prospect again. Could the Fox-mandated X-Men franchise actually end up going out on a high instead of the mediocrity of X-Men: Dark Phoenix? We have a few months to wait and see.

The New Mutants stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Ilyana Rasputin aka Magik, Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair aka Wolfsbane, Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie aka Cannonball, Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar aka Mirage, Henry Zaga as Robert da Costa aka Sunspot, and Alice Braga as Dr. Cecilia Reyes. It is scheduled for release on 3 April 2020, almost exactly two years after it was originally set to hit cinemas.

Last Updated: January 7, 2020