Good news for fans of New Mutants as while the recent news about reshoots might sound worrying, it turns out the reshoots will actually be making the movie all the better, and it’s all because of the recent IT movie.
It also turns out that I was exactly right when I said that originally the New Mutants movie was supposed to be an R-rated horror film, but that the Fox Studios execs basically wanted to change the movie into a feel-good Marvel Studios “fun” movie aimed at kids and families, and they mandated it to be PG-13.
The latest regarding the New Mutants reshoots comes from a report offering a boat load of insider information.
According to the report, the “creative differences” between Fox Studios and writer/director Josh Boone have been blown out of proportion and really aren’t that bad, it was just that Fox Studios had a difference of opinion regarding the direction of the movie, but again the good news, that has now all changed. If there really was a problem, Fox would have fired Boone, similar to what Disney did with Han Solo.
Regarding the inital direction Fox Studios was going to take with New Mutants, it’s said Josh Boone was replaced and brought back multiple times to write the script, and then Fox Studios assembled a writer’s room to overhaul the script even more. According to the report, New Mutants features Scott Neustadter & Michael Weber, Josh Zetumer, Chad & Carey Hayes and Seth Grahame-Smith all contributing to the script–in addition to the writer’s room featuring six more people all of which generated ideas.
It’s noted that at first Josh Boone wanted to make a horror movie, but that Fox Studio was hesitant and didn’t want to go the “full horror” route, with Fox demanding a PG-13 rating, and Fox was against use of excessive blood and scary content.
Now get this: It’s said everyone eventually got on board with the notion (including Boone, which is why he remained on as director), and that New Mutants became a youth adult movie described as a cross between a Stephen King and a John Hughes movie. It’s said the CEO of Fox, Stacey Snider, described New Mutants as “a superhero movie set in a Breakfast Club-like setting whose genre is more like The Shining than ‘let’s save the world.'”
If you recall, Spider-Man: Homecoming was inspired by the John Hughes movies as well (see? New Mutants – a Marvel Studios movie, like I said).
Enter IT.
The report states when IT was released in September it was so huge for Warner Bros. that nobody expected the film to be as big as it was (note: IT is R-rated and features children as the main stars). So when Fox saw how huge IT was at the box office, they decided to go with a cut of a New Mutants trailer that was horror and played up the scary elements of the film (whoever decided to go that route deserves a raise). It is noted that the first cut of New Mutants, the one billed as a youth adult movie, actually screen tested just as positive as the first Deadpool movie, but that since the New Mutants trailer and its horror aspect was so well-received, it was decided to retool the movie.
So Fox is now going with Josh Boone’s original idea of making New Mutants a straight-up horror film.
It’s further said that sources close to Boone have stated he felt he was being held back during filming as he was forced to tone down the violence and horror to make the movie PG-13 and avoid getting a “dreaded” R-rating. While the report doesn’t mention if New Mutants might now be R-rated, if the film is going back to being a straight-up horror film and IT is indeed a major inspiration, let’s hope so. Both Deadpool and Logan (and IT) were rated-R and were huge hits. I think with the release of the first New Mutants trailer, that audiences are expecting an R-rated New Mutants movie (I know I am).
Now regarding the New Mutants reshoots, it’s said the second half of the move is locked into place, but that the first half will need some work, which corroborates the rumor that 50% or more of the film will be reshot.
It has also been rumored that New Mutants will be adding additional characters. It’s said originally Jon Hamm was being brought on at the end of the movie as Mr. Sinister, but that has been scrapped. It’s further said that Fox also decided against using Warlock as it would be too expensive.
The latest rumor is that Antonio Banderas will be featured in some sort of unknown villain role (not Mr. Sinister).
What do you think? If New Mutants is really going back to being a horror movie and shying away from a youth adult flick (get real!), I’m pretty excited. They can take all the time they like for the reshoots.
New Mutants now has an August 2, 2019 release and stars Maisie Williams as Wolfsbane, Anya Taylor-Joy as Magik, Charlie Heaton as Cannonball, Henry Zaga as Sunspot, Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar / Mirage, and Alice Braga as Dr. Cecilia Reyes.
(via Tracking Board)
