Is The New Mutants Being Delayed Again?

New Mutants Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Heaton see something worrying them

The New Mutants has had a rough go on the way to being released, with so many factors and obstacles getting in the way of telling this horror tinged tale adjacent to the X-Men universe. And just as we’d gotten used to the idea that there was a countdown to an actual release of director Josh Boone’s superhero horror-show, new rumors speculate that the film is, yet again, suspected to be bumped to a later release date.

A supposed source at Fox says that The New Mutants isn’t going to make its currently specified August 2 release date. This comes after the film was already moved from its original home of April 13, 2018 to the seemingly more comfortable February 22, 2019. Now it looks as if there’s going to be another hunt for prime calendar real estate, as two factors have apparently delayed director Josh Boone’s motion picture for the time being.

Those two factors are the old fashioned pairing of Disney and Fox’s merger putting a hold on any big releasing decisions until their union was complete, as well as the non-existent reshoots that were supposed to have reshaped The New Mutants into release-worthy form.

While we’ve seen Disney start to make decisions about Fox projects recently, choices that have left films like Mouse Guard out in the cold, that new footage is still lingering unfilmed. Whether it’s due to scheduling or creative differences, no one knows at this point, but it’s a crucial enough stumbling block that The New Mutants might not be seen for some time now.

Fox’s unknown source spoke with genre news site iHorror and said that while there isn’t a new release date in the works, it’ll be “far away from August.” So if you were hoping that 2019 would still see two mutant powered hits coming our way, those odds just reduced dramatically. How far away from The New Mutants’ initial release date is far enough isn’t known, but the invocation of that very phrase is enough to assume that this calendar year is probably off the table. That is, unless Disney and Fox plan to do some sort of stealth drop onto a streaming platform as previously rumored, which honestly wouldn’t be such a bad idea at this point.

Fate has not been kind to The New Mutants, and should this rumor pan out, it will be another sling and arrow of misfortune sent the way of that particular film. Though, should Dark Phoenix effectively rekindle the fire between the moviegoing public and the X-Men franchise, there could be a push to get the film out, in one form or another, by the end of 2019.

The New Mutants, unless someone comes forth in the next couple of days and corrects the assumption, is slated for release on August 2. Should that change and a new date be announced for some point within the year, we’ll not only report back, but we’ll update the 2019 release schedule to reflect the project’s new status.

Mike Reyes
Senior Movies Contributor

Mike Reyes is the Senior Movie Contributor at CinemaBlend, though that title’s more of a guideline really. Passionate about entertainment since grade school, the movies have always held a special place in his life, which explains his current occupation. Mike graduated from Drew University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, but swore off of running for public office a long time ago. Mike's expertise ranges from James Bond to everything Alita, making for a brilliantly eclectic resume. He fights for the user.