Recently,X-Menfans were excited to discover thatThe New Mutants is available on Amazon PVOD for pre-order. While it appeared that Disney, which now owns the film, had finally decided to go for a fully digital release for the movie, THR now reports that the Amazon listing was a mistake made by the site’s system and that the studio still intends to release the film in theaters when it can.
The New Mutantsis the lastX-Menmovie to exist more or less in the same continuity as the series of movies kickstarted all the way back in 2000 with Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellan. The film is based on theNew Mutantsspinoff comics from Marvel, which focus on a younger generation of students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Directed byJosh Boone, with Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy among the lead roles,The New Mutantsfocuses ona group of young adults with extraordinary powers, who are kept at a facility that claims to be helping them control their abilities. However, it soon becomes clear that there is something much more sinister going on at the facility, and the kids must band together in order to escape.
The New Mutantshas been something of an anomaly from the start. It does not have any direct connection to previousX-Men movies, although technically existing in the same universe, and Anya Taylor-Joy ’s character Magik is the younger sister of Colossus. The film stands apart due to its explicit horror movie tone, instead of being a straight-up action-adventure flick.
The release of the movie even before the lockdown was plagued by problems, getting delayed again and again as rumors of the studio’s unhappiness with the final cut of the movie, and subsequent reshoots on an extensive scale made the rounds of the internet.
Just as the film appeared finally ready for release, long after theX-Menmovie franchise ended, and the characters werebought by Disney, the lockdown happened, andNew Mutantswas delayed yet again.
Now a different problem has hit the film industry, where the shutdown of theaters has forced many studios to seriously consider the possibility of releasing their movies on the internet via VOD to make some measure of profit at a time when production companies are hemorrhaging money due to stalled projects.
The success ofTrolls World Tourwith a fully digital release prompted some studios to announce that they will be releasing more movies directly online. This, in turn, led theater chains to threaten studios with a complete ban on all their movies if they tried to bypass a theatrical release for some of their films.
With its mid-budget cost and little known cast ofX-Mencharacters, many supposedThe New Mutantswould be also on its way to a digital release. But it seems the studio still sees value in a theatrical release for the film, even if it means another interminable wait for fans for theaters to reopen. This news comes fromThe Hollywood Reporter.
