X-Men Mystery Project Reportedly Kitty Pryde Movie

After the surprise reveal of a mystery X-Men movie in the works at 20th Century Fox, another report has shed some light and revealed the project will feature a fan-favorite mutant in the spotlight.

The X-Men project from Deadpool director Tim Miller and writer Brian Michael Bendis will indeed feature Kitty Pryde, as confirmed by the Hollywood Reporter.

This confirmation comes after a rumor last month that Miller was working on developing a film featuring the phase-shifting mutant for Fox. The studio is still working in "business as usual" mode as the looming deal with Disney goes through regulation.

The original report revealed the X-Men project was operating under the working title "143." It's quite possible that number refers to a certain issue in the comic books in which Kitty Pryde features prominently.

In Uncanny X-Men #143, Kitty Pryde is left alone at the X-Mansion during Christmas Eve when a demon entity known as N'Garai attacks. The demon looks like a cross between a Brood creature and the xenomorph from Alien, which is fitting considering the comic plays out a lot like the movie when Ripley becomes the sole survivor.

Kitty even eliminates the threat in a similar fashion as Ripley, torching the N'Garai demon with the turbines of the X-Jet. It all plays out like a mid-budget horror film, which could be exactly what Miller and Bendis will be going for with their film.

Fox has been eager to churn out more and more X-Men-based projects, especially if they're of modest budgets. Deadpool turned out to be a major success and Logan followed suit, offering two decidedly different takes on the long-running franchise without the costs that are typical of the main entries.

It's interesting that Fox would pursue another horror project featuring the X-Men, especially with The New Mutants basically completed. It's unclear how audiences will respond to mutant-starring horror movies, but they already have a production in the can to test those waters.

The New Mutants was supposed to premiere on April 13th, but was recently pushed back to February 22nd, 2019. Though Fox didn't give any reasons for the ten month delay, rumors indicate the movie did alright at testing but executives wanted to make it scarier in response to horror films doing well in 2017.

That could also be a reason why Fox would be willing to put out two scary X-Men films so quickly.

There's no word on when production will begin on the Kitty Pryde movie.