Director Josh Boone is closing the book on his foray into the Marvel universe, describing the experience of making The New Mutants as a deeply “traumatic” time in his career. The filmmaker pulled no punches about the 2020 superhero horror movie, which endured a notoriously long time to the big screen.
Josh Boone talks The New Mutants experience
While promoting his upcoming film, Regretting You, Josh Boone reflected on his time with The New Mutants. The movie, produced under 20th Century Fox before the Disney merger, was plagued by constant delays, reshoots, and an unexpected studio transition.
“It’s so hard because it was so traumatic,” Boone told The Direct. “The studio was sold, and we hit a pandemic… The studio was sold during the shooting, and then the pandemic happened when they decided to release it. And it just was such a — I had a wonderful time. I love the cast so much, but making that… It took so many years, and it was so unfulfilling, ultimately.”
The film was originally pitched as a horror spin on the X-Men universe. It was eventually released by Disney in August 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The result was a critical and commercial disappointment, getting just a 36% critics’ score and 55% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Boone admitted that despite working with a cast he admired, including Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, and Charlie Heaton, the production left him drained. “We didn’t really get to make the movie we wanted to make. We made half the movie we wanted to make.” With Marvel Studios now preparing to explore the Mutant Saga following Avengers: Secret Wars, Boone was asked whether he’d be interested in returning to the genre. His answer was, “never do it again.”
An X-Men film is currently in development at Marvel Studios with Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier attached to lead the project.