The New Mutants: Fox Reportedly Wanted to Completely Scrap First Cut and Start Over

To say that The New Mutants has had a complicated path towards release would be an understatement, as it has suffered a number of release date delays over the span of years, with a new report from Vulture claiming that, at one point, Fox was so disappointed with the cut they had seen that they wanted the entire film scrapped so that it could start over. Director Josh Boone, on the other hand, claims that he never helmed any reshoots for the film and that the version that will be landing in theaters is his vision for the adventure, so whatever the studio’s desires might have been at the time, it seems like new distributor Disney wasn’t as invested in the final product.

Vulture cites “sources familiar with New Mutants‘ production” when noting that the project got the green light to move forward when it was pitched as embracing not just horror elements, but also the lighthearted coming-of-age films of John Hughes. Boone and his writing partner Knate Lee, however, weren’t as interested in the more comedic corner of the X-Men universe, and were “reluctant or outright unwilling to implement such script changes requested by the studio, requiring round after round of rewrites and one intervention-like roundtable read just before filming.” When the initial cut was screened for Fox, likely back in 2017, the studio was “so displeased with the initial cut the studio discussed throwing the entire movie out to ‘start over’ with a total reshoot.”

With The New Mutants finally set to land in select theaters on August 28th, it marks the closing of a chapter in the X-Men spinoff’s saga, though it surely won’t be the last we’ll hear of it.

The film’s first trailer landed in the fall of 2017 with an April 2018 release date, but when X-Men: Dark Phoenix was delayed for reshoots, so was New Mutants. Various reports emerged about the need for reshoots and what additional footage could consist of, with rumors ranging from the project going full-blown horror with R-rated scenes to the addition of an entirely new CGI character into what was already filmed.

Boone has largely denied reports of massive tweaks to his film, other than various hints that the project was initially set in the ’80s and was since updated.

Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox while New Mutants was facing delays didn’t help matters much, but once the project is in both the studio’s and Boone’s rearview, we won’t be surprised if more reports about what really led to the various delays ultimately emerge.

The New Mutants is set to hit theaters on August 28th.

What do you think about these reports? Let us know in the comments below!