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The road to New Mutants’ eventual release was a long and winding one, punctuated by delays, new ownership from Fox to Disney, and behind-the-scenes issues. A new report has shed some light on the latter, with Fox apparently really disliking the first cut of the movie.
After principal filming was complete, Fox reportedly had a seriously negative reaction as the “studio discussed throwing the entire movie out to ‘start over’ with a total reshoot,” according to Vulture.
Before even that less-than-lukewarm response, several aspects of New Mutants ended up being left on the cutting room floor. It’s a miracle this movie even got made, judging by the scope of the shifts the X-Men spin-off ended up taking.
Originally set in the 1980s and envisioned as a “hybrid-horror Breakfast Club movie,” New Mutants would have featured crossovers with the X-Men – including Storm as a “sadistic jailer” – and there were even wider plans for a trilogy.
But, the creative process was shaky, to put it mildly. The report details writers being continually brought in to punch up the material, a new direction away from the Breakfast Club motif after shot-callers got cold feet, and a roundtable “intervention” with director Josh Boone.
After some serious behind-the-scenes struggles, New Mutants was eventually filmed and, remarkably, no reshoots were done. What you’ll see in theatres is what was filmed the first time around. No pick-ups, no Rogue One-style retread, nothing. So much for starting over. According to the first reviews, the results are mixed.
For more from New Mutants, find out why there isn’t a New Mutants post-credits scene and what happens instead once the credits roll.
