For the latter half of 2019, there was basically no news about The New Mutants, the delayed and troubled final Fox X-Men film from director Josh Boone. Then last week we got our first positive sign that not only does this movie still exist, but a new trailer is on the way in January of 2020. We know exactly when we should expect it, because another New Mutants trailer is finally on the way and it’s coming in less than a week. Take a look:
There you have it, the second trailer for The New Mutants will arrive on January 6, over two years since the first trailer dropped all the way back on October 13 of 2017. This isn’t speculation or a report either, this news comes from director Josh Boone’s verified Instagram account, so it doesn’t get much more official than that. We are finally going to get another look at The New Mutants in a little less than a week’s time on Monday, January 6, 2020.
That puts the arrival of the second trailer about three months in advance of The New Mutants’ theatrical release date on April 3. Josh Boone affirms that release date here, indicating that yes, The New Mutants will actually be playing in movie theaters. That’s notable because one of the many stories surrounding the film during its troubled road to the big screen has been whether it may wind up on a streaming service like Hulu or Disney+ instead.
There were signs positive signs over the last year that The New Mutants would get a theatrical release, but this movie has been such a rollercoaster that it would have been foolish to assume anything for certain. But it seems that as was initially intended, The New Mutants will play in theaters, making it, not Dark Phoenix, the last of the Fox X-Men films.
Josh Boone also made sure to note that the creative team behind The New Mutants were involved in the creation of this second trailer, it wasn’t just the work of the studio or some trailer house. Director Josh Boone supervised the trailer, with the help of his co-writer Knate Lee and cinematographer Peter Deming. There has been a lot of talk about the creative vision that’s driving The New Mutants and it’s clear that the filmmaker stands behind this upcoming trailer.
That is also encouraging because one of the narratives around The New Mutants has been that the studio (Disney) was reportedly unimpressed with the film, and had a difference of opinion with director Josh Boone about the tone and creative direction of the movie. There were allegedly test screenings over the summer with a cut of the film that more closely adhered to Josh Boone’s vision of a horror comic book movie and they were apparently fairly well received.
So we’ll have to wait till Monday to find out what two years of delays and tinkering has done to the look and feel of The New Mutants that we saw in the first trailer. Will it be a drastic departure from the first trailer? Will it still feel like a horror movie? Will it be R-rated?
Artist Bill Sienkiewicz, who illustrated the New Mutants in Marvel comics, says that he saw the trailer and called it phenomenal and that the horror elements remain intact. At least we don’t have long to wait to see it for ourselves.
The New Mutants opens in theaters on April 3, 2020. Check out our 2020 Release Schedule to keep track of all of the new year’s biggest movies.