5 Years Ago, An Ill-Fated X-Men Movie Died At The Box Office While Trying To Help Save It

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

"I can't believe they're letting us make this movie! I still am like, 'Do they know how f****d up this movie is?'" Those are the words of director Josh Boone speaking to Entertainment Weekly on the set of his Marvel Comics adaptation "The New Mutants" in 2017. That was a good time for Boone and his fellow filmmakers because what would ensue once that messed-up movie was in the can was equally as messed up. When its day finally arrived, conditions were far from ideal.

Boone and his writing partner Knate Lee were eager to tackle this "X-Men" spin-off, meeting with franchise producer Simon Kinberg while 2016's "X-Men: Apocalypse" was being filmed. They came with a comic book they made, one that laid out their ambitious plans for a full "New Mutants" trilogy. Fox bought in — at least initially.

What ensued was a battle behind the scenes with Fox, a movie caught up in one of the biggest media mergers of all time, and a long-delayed release that coincided with a global catastrophe. At the same time, this movie arguably arrived when the industry needed it most, becoming something of an unsung hero.

In this week's Tales from the Box Office, we're looking back at "The New Mutants" five years later. We'll go over how it came to be, how it fell victim to the Disney/Fox merger, what happened when it finally hit theaters, what happened in the aftermath of its release, and what we can learn from it all these years later. Let's dig in, shall we?

The film centers on five young people with special powers who are forced to undergo treatment at a secret institution. This is allegedly to cure them of the dangers of their powers, but it's quickly revealed that their containment is part of something far more sinister. The film is based on Marvel Comics' "The New Mutants," created by Bob McLeod and Chris Claremont in 1982.

Fox had been looking to expand the scope of the "X-Men" franchise beyond the main films for several years, with "New Mutants" kicking around the studio's halls for several years. The runaway success of "Deadpool" in 2016 accelerated those plans, while the failure of 2015's "Fantastic Four" made it clear that more mutants were the way to go for the time being. Boone and Lee were coming off the success of "The Fault in Our Stars," also made for Fox. That opened the door for the studio to take a chance on this out-of-the-box "X-Men" pitch.

In May 2015, it was confirmed that Boone was to write and direct "The New Mutants." Thus began one of the most tumultuous, confused, and downright unfortunate tales from development hell one is likely to come across in the era of the superhero movie boom. The film was originally set in the '80s during the "Apocalypse" timeline, with characters like Professor X and Storm in it. That all changed dramatically as things progressed.

Boone had essentially pitched a YA "X-Men" horror movie to Fox, one that could be made relatively cheaply. That was appealing to the studio. Unfortunately, it came at a time when the larger franchise was struggling, with "Apocalypse" disappointing greatly. Speaking to /Film in 2020, Boone explained that the new regime at Fox wanted his movie to fit in with the future of the "X-Men" franchise, which was ill-defined at this time:

"Over the course of months, a new studio head came in, they said they didn't want any X-Men movies to take place in the past anymore, as if that was the reason that 'Apocalypse' was bad. [laughs] So we were put in the position where we kind of rewrote it to be set now in a nebulous [point in time]."

Along the way, Fox cut the budget for the movie in half, which prompted further rewrites. The character Warlock was cut from the script entirely. The shooting script was based on the beloved "Demon Bear" storyline from the comics. Boone also tried to make it a contained thriller, working with a small cast. He cited "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors" as inspirations.

The impressive ensemble included most young up-and-comers led by Blu Hunt ("The Originals") as Dani Moonstar/Mirage, with Anya Taylor-Joy ("The Witch") as Illyana Rasputin/Magik, Charlie Heaton ("Stranger Things") as Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, Maisie Williams ("Game of Thrones") as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane, and Henry Zaga ("Teen Wolf") as Bobby da Costa/Sunspot. Alice Braga ("Predators") was also on board as the evil Dr. Cecilia Reyes.

As joyful as Boone was while filming took place in 2017, things took a turn during post-production. The movie was originally scheduled to release in April 2018, with the first trailer for "The New Mutants" arriving online in October 2017. It didn't arrive for nearly three more years. 

Rumors began circulating online like wildfire of squabbles between Fox and Boone over the direction. A 2020 report claimed that Fox nearly started over from scratch because the studio so strongly disliked the initial cut. It was allegedly going to be R-rated, though those rumors were later debunked. Reshoots were ordered by Fox, which is not uncommon for a movie of this size. But those reshoots never happened, even two years after filming had initially wrapped.

Williams confirmed in a March 2019 interview that the reshoots hadn't happened, saying, "Who knows when the f*** that's gonna come out." The actress also added, "Hopefully this interview will make everyone hurry up a little bit!" By this time, Disney's $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox's media assets had been completed, but that very deal, which took well over a year to complete, was itself a major issue as Fox halted work on many movies, including this one. Its budget, in the end, was pegged between $67 and $80 million. Still very cheap for a superhero movie. 

Boone hadn't touched the movie for nearly two years when Disney asked him to come in and finish what he started in 2019. Editing and special effects work were still needed, with Boone knee-deep in developing "The Stand" for what would become Paramount+. But he indeed returned to deliver a releasable version of the movie, which was given an April 2020 release date by Disney.

The COVID-19 pandemic surfaced in early 2020, and by March, theaters all around the world were closed for months on end. Boone's movie was delayed once more. Using it as something of a test, Disney opted to release it in August 2020 just as theaters were slowly trying to reopen. It was the canary in the coal mine for the Mouse House.

Boone confirmed in July 2020 to /Film that no reshoots ever took place and that the movie is his "director's cut." So after literally years of radio silence and rumors, it all came down to Boone doing what he wanted to do in the first place, seemingly. Unfortunately, all of that hard work arrived with something of a thud due to the difficult circumstances.

"The New Mutants" hit theaters on the weekend of August 28, 2020, serving as one of the first major new Hollywood releases to arrive on screens since the pandemic kicked off. The other big one being Russell Crowe's thriller "Unhinged," but a Marvel movie came with a bigger profile, naturally. Even so, it opened with a mere $7 million. Good enough to top the charts, but nothing shy of a drop in the bucket for a superhero movie. To make matters worse, Boone's horror-tinged "X-Men" spin-off had to surrender the crown to Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" over the Labor Day weekend. Its run was, on the surface, the opposite of heroic.

When all was said and done, "The New Mutants" had earned just $23.8 million domestically to go with $25.3 million overseas for a grand total of $49.1 million worldwide.

Because Disney intended to fold the "X-Men" into the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the Fox buyout, the old universe was doomed. That, coupled with the realities of the pandemic, sealed the movie's financial fate. It also didn't help that critics were largely unkind to the movie we got.

Because no reshoots took place, Boone didn't get to cast Antonio Banderas to play the villain Emmanuel da Costa, who would have been in a post-credits scene. Similarly, Jon Hamm was in talks to play Mister Sinister in a different credits scene that was never filmed. More than that, Boone and Lee's ambitious plans for a possible trilogy never had a chance to flourish. Speaking with /Film in 2020, Boone explained what the trilogy would have looked like.

"The first one's like a rubber reality horror movie, the second one was supposed to be an alien invasion movie with Warlock, and then the third one was going to take all these elements from the X-Men crossover from the late '80s and early '90s called Inferno to be a kind of supernatural, apocalyptic horror movie."

In the end, Disney was fine getting "The New Mutants" off its books. It was a small part of a $71 billion merger that was essentially collateral damage. They were able to use this and other Fox-produced movies to give theaters something in the meantime, rather than risk dooming a project that originated in-house. After years of hubbub, it was a dour way for the journey to end.

Regardless of what one thinks of "The New Mutants," it certainly feels like it deserved better. Boone, the cast, and all involved deserved better than being an $80 million afterthought. They deserved a fair shot in the marketplace. This movie deserved a fair shake, especially considering some of the terrible Fox "X-Men" movies that got their day in court. "Apocalypse" and "Dark Phoenix" come to mind.

At the same time, this movie deserves some credit for helping to get theaters back on their feet. This movie came at a time when the industry's future was wildly uncertain, with theater chains facing potential doom. $50 million isn't a lot as far as the global box office goes, but it helped keep some lights on. That's not nothing.

More than anything, five years removed, this feels like the kind of superhero movie we need more of. Marvel and DC are both struggling at the box office. Superheroes are no longer as certain as they once were. Why not give a guy like Boone $60 million and let him chase a vision? $200 million movies are just too risky these days. Despite this movie's reputation, it probably still didn't lose nearly as much in the end as many other, more high-profile blockbusters. There's something to be said for that. Comic book movies don't have to be a one-size-fits-all form of mass entertainment.