Although the last Fox X-Men film, The New Mutants, received largely negative feedback from both audiences and critics, the Marvel movie is getting a fresh start on Disney+ in the United States, arriving on October 14. It will join other October additions to the streaming service, such as the new Marvel special Werewolf By Night.
The New Mutants is set in the X-Men cinematic universe and follows a group of five teenagers with mutant abilities who are imprisoned in a secret medical facility run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga). The five teenage mutants—Magik, Cannonball, Mirage, Wolfsbane, and Sunspot—were told they would be trained to use their new abilities. They are all subjected to procedures that are supposed to cure them, but their recollections quickly become terrifying as they begin to question their stay in the medical institute.
With a 2018 release date in mind, the movie version of the Marvel Comics franchise, New Mutants, began filming in 2017. However, The New Mutants wasn't released until 2020 as a result of numerous setbacks, including a round of reshoots, a Disney and 20th Century Fox merging dilemma, and the then-rising COVID-19 cases, which hugely affected the movie industry. The 90s-horror inspired X-Men film didn't sit well with fans and has left the X-Men franchise in worse box office condition, grossing just $49 million. And even though the film boasts a set of rising stars, including Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Blu Hunt (Another Life), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), and Henry Zaga (Trinkets), The New Mutants only received a 35% critics' score and a 56% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The initial X-Men films have long been respected and loved by fans, but apart from The New Mutants, the last two X-Men films, Dark Phoenix and Apocalypse, were critically lambasted. The X-Men characters have now been reported to receive a Marvel Cinematic Universe reimagining, with Professor Charles Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart, making an appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But until then, die-hard X-Men fans will still have to wait until further announcements are released.
Josh Boone directed The New Mutants from a script co-written with Knate Lee. The New Mutants has had one of the most often delayed releases in the recent decade, which only amplified the audiences' expectations of the film. But although it barely received favorable feedback, it's getting a new lease of life through Disney+. You can watch the trailer and read the synopsis below.
"20th Century Fox in association with Marvel Entertainment presents “The New Mutants,” an original horror thriller set in an isolated hospital where a group of young mutants is being held for psychiatric monitoring. When strange occurrences begin to take place, both their new mutant abilities and their friendships will be tested as they battle to try and make it out alive."