X-Men: The New Mutants will be "a full-fledged horror movie," says director
2018 is set to be the busiest year yet for 20th Century Foxâs âX-Menâ franchise, with no less than three films set in the comic book movie universe scheduled for release.
While two of these films â âDeadpool 2â and âX-Men: Dark Phoenixâ â will be direct sequels to 2016âs âDeadpoolâ and âX-Men: Apocalypse,â the first to arrive will be an all-new property to the big screen: âX-Men: The New Mutants,â an adaptation of the âX-Menâ offshoot first published by Marvel Comics in 1982.
However, for those fearing just more of the same, it may come as a welcome surprise that the filmâs writer-director Josh Boone is promising something unlike any existing âX-Menâ movie.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the âFault in our Starsâ filmmaker (also attached to the long in-development movie of Stephen Kingâs âThe Standâ) says, âWe are making a full-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe. There are no costumes. There are no supervillains. Weâre trying to do something very, very different.â
Boone says the film will draw on artist Bill Sienkiewiczâs run on âThe New Mutants.â Hailing Sienkiewicz as âone of the most amazing comic book artists ever,â the director explains this period of the comic was âa darker and more surreal and impressionistic X-Men series than weâd ever seen before. It felt like Stephen King meets John Hughes.â
Doesnât necessarily sound too far removed from beloved Netflix series âStranger Thingsâ â nor, for that matter, the recent âX-Menâ TV series âLegion,â which explored mutation in a far more bizarre, nightmarish manner than the movies have done thus far.
Considering that approach proved effective on the small screen, thereâs little reason to think something similar couldnât work on the big screen too.
Boone reveals little else about âThe New Mutants,â but it is known that, like the comic before it, the film will centre on a group of young, inexperienced mutants just getting to grips with their bizarre new abilities.
An unnamed source gave EW this unofficial synopsis: âHeld in a secret facility against their will, five new mutants have to battle the dangers of their powers, as well as the sins of their past. They arenât out to save the world â theyâre just trying to save themselves.â
Maisie Williams (âGame of Thronesâ) has been cast as Wolfsbane alongside Anya Taylor-Joy (âThe Witch,â âSplitâ) as Magik, and news recently broke that Rosario Dawson is in talks to appear as Cecilia Reyes, effectively the Charles Xavier of âThe New Mutantsâ who teaches the youngsters how to control their powers â although, if things are indeed getting horrific, it seems safe to assume Cecilia wonât have as much success as Charles.
Even so, it is mentioned that âX-Men: The New Mutantsâ is shooting with a PG-13 rating in mind (which generally leads to a 12A or occasionally 15 certificate in the UK), so as horror goes, itâs likely to be more âInsidiousâ than âSaw.â
âX-Men: The New Mutantsâ is scheduled to open in UK cinemas on 13 April 2018.
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