On Thursday came the news that three of the upcoming X-Men films are being shifted around on FOX’s schedule with the most notable news being the delay of Josh Boone’s The New Mutants spin-off which was pushed back almost a full year.
The official reason is Fox didn’t want any overlap between it and Deadpool 2 opening mid-May. Now though, The Tracking Board says the extensive ten month delay is for another likely reason – reshoots.
Specifically, they report the film “tested well, but not great” recently and say Fox now wants to up the horror and scare quotient of the film – especially in the wake of the success of R-rated horror like IT and Get Out. The Wrap had a similar report with their source saying the current cut of the film “isn’t scary enough”.
The New Mutant follows five young mutants who are just discovering their special abilities trying to escape a secret facility where they’re being held against their will. It marks the first of the “X-Men” films to be situated squarely in the horror genre.
The New Mutants now opens February 22nd 2019.
