The New Mutants (film)

Lore & Background

The film was developed after Josh Boone completed The Fault in Our Stars (2014). Boone and Knate Lee pitched a potential film trilogy to X-Men producer Simon Kinberg, and in May 2015 they were officially signed. Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams were rumored to be cast in March 2016 and confirmed over a year later. Filming took place in Boston, Massachusetts, from July to September 2017, primarily at Medfield State Hospital, with an initial release date of April 13, 2018. The film was delayed while reshoots were planned and Disney began acquiring 20th Century Fox. After the acquisition, Boone returned to work, and the film was completed without reshoots in March 2020.

The plot centers on Danielle 'Dani' Moonstar, a Cheyenne Native American who survives a tornado that destroys her reservation.

Reader's Guide

The New Mutants is notable as the final installment of the X-Men film series, concluding a franchise that began in 2000. It attempted to blend superhero and horror genres, a departure from earlier X-Men films. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office bomb, grossing $49.2 million against a production budget of $67–80 million. Its troubled production, including multiple delays and the acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney, contributed to its status as a footnote in the series. Despite this, the film introduced characters like Magik and Wolfsbane to a wider audience and included a same-sex romance between Dani and Rahne, which director Josh Boone described as 'the spine and focus' of the film's character-driven elements. The film's legacy is largely as a curiosity—a delayed, reshoot-free final chapter that never fully realized its potential.

Did You Know?

• The film was completed without reshoots in March 2020 after Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
• Marilyn Manson provided the voice for the Smiling Men, Illyana's abusers.
• Dafne Keen appears as Laura / X-23 through archival footage from Logan (2017).
• The film includes a love story between Rahne and Dani, which Williams felt was a natural extension of the comic book characters' telepathic connection.

A Turbulent Production Path

The New Mutants emerged from a creative partnership between director Josh Boone and writer Josh Lee, who first began developing the project after Boone wrapped The Fault in Our Stars in 2014. The duo pitched a potential trilogy to X-Men producer Simon Kinberg and were officially signed on in May 2015. Casting rumors surfaced as early as March 2016, with Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams linked to key roles, though their involvement was not confirmed until more than a year later once the full ensemble was assembled. Principal photography ran from July through September 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts, with much of the shooting taking place at Medfield State Hospital. The team originally targeted an April 13, 2018 release. However, the schedule unraveled as reshoots were planned and Disney initiated its acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Once the corporate transition concluded, Boone returned to the project and finished the film in March 2020 without carrying out the previously anticipated reshoots.

Horror Meets Superhero

The film positions itself at the intersection of the superhero genre and psychological horror, a blend that sets it apart from other entries in the X-Men franchise. At its center is Danielle Moonstar, a young Cheyenne woman who survived a tornado that destroyed her entire reservation, only to discover she possesses the terrifying ability to physically manifest a person's deepest fears and darkest secrets into tangible, dangerous illusions. The other four mutants—Sam Guthrie, Illyana Rasputin, Roberto da Costa, and Rahne Sinclair—each carry the trauma of accidental tragedies caused by their powers, from a collapsed coal mine to a fatal burning. Their captor, Dr. Cecilia Reyes, initially presents herself as a nurturing figure but is ultimately revealed to be working for the Essex Corporation, whose goal is to harvest Dani's DNA and then kill her. The horror escalates through nightmarish sequences: monstrous humanoid Smiling Men that embody Illyana's childhood abusers, and the Demon Bear, a manifestation of Dani's own subconscious fear that was the true force behind her reservation's annihilation.

Casting and Character Portrayals

The ensemble brings distinct personal textures to their roles. Maisie Williams portrays Rahne Sinclair, a Scottish mutant who shifts into a wolf and struggles to reconcile her nature with her devout Catholic upbringing. Director Boone, who co-wrote the screenplay, noted that he connected to the character because of his own strict religious background, and it was this discussion that ultimately persuaded Williams to accept the part. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Illyana Rasputin, a Russian mutant wielding interdimensional sorcery, capable of summoning a glowing blade called the Soulsword and traveling through teleportation discs. In the source material, Illyana is the enigmatic sister of Colossus, a member of the X-Men. Charlie Heaton takes the role of Sam Guthrie, who can generate energy fields enabling jet-speed flight and near-invulnerability, while Alice Braga plays the enigmatic Dr. Reyes, whose plasma-energy barriers enclose the hospital and whose true allegiance to the Essex Corporation drives the film's central conflict.

Release and Final Chapter Status

The New Mutants finally reached U.S. theaters on August 28, 2020, distributed by 20th Century Studios following Disney's completed acquisition of Fox. Critics offered a mixed reception, and the film's financial performance fell well short of expectations: it collected approximately $49.2 million worldwide against a reported production budget ranging from $67 million to $80 million, marking it as a box office disappointment. As the thirteenth and final installment in the broader X-Men film series, its underperformance underscored the shifting landscape for superhero cinema at the time. The film also represented a notable tonal departure within the franchise, leaning into horror and psychological dread rather than the action-adventure conventions that had defined most prior X-Men entries. Its troubled production timeline—spanning from the 2015 signing through a 2020 wrap—meant it arrived in a very different industry and audience climate than originally envisioned, with the long gap between filming and release reshaping the theatrical landscape just weeks before its August debut.

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