With The New Mutants movie getting its release date pushed back (AGAIN) to August 2019 from the original April 2018 plan, there was a rumor that the X-Men property could lean into straight horror. Meanting it would carry an R-rating as well. Speaking to Collider, producer Simon Kinberg said the film is about to undergo more reshoots, though the film could still be rated R.
“It’s the kind of movie that could go R, or it could be a hard PG-13. As I was saying before in terms of subgenres or the genre, it is obviously teased as a horror film, and most horror films these days are R-rated, but it stars a very young cast, so we’ll see. It really is what the movie wants to be. The studio is open to either rating… Traditionally, superhero movies are PG-13 other than Logan and the Deadpool movies, and generally, horror films are R-rated, so we’ll see where this one falls. It is a very scary, edgy movie.”
The film is currently set to star Anya Taylor-Joy (Split, The Witch) as Magik and Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones, gen:LOCK) as Wolfsbane, with Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why) heavily rumored to play Sunspot, and Rosario Dawson (Marvel’s Daredevil) also rumored to join the cast. Nat Wolff was linked to the role of Cannonball but that casting has apparently fallen through, as has James McAvoy making an appearance as Charles Xavier.
The New Mutants adapts the monthly comic book series of the same name that launched in 1982. Created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, The New Mutants follows on a group of teenage mutants as heroes in training in the Marvel Universe. The feature is expected to be a departure from the sci-fi-action spectacle of other X-Men films and is instead being described as a “Stephen King meets John Hughes”-style horror movie.
Last November, ComingSoon.net exclusively revealed a leaked concept animatic from the film, which features Wolfsbane, Magic and Cannonball facing Demon Bear.
