20th Century Fox really has done a number on the roller coaster that is the X-Men film franchise. I'd certainly say 2000's X-Men is partially responsible for kicking off the modern comic book movie. Without that first hit, I don't think we'd have gotten the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of the good DC Comics movies like Wonder Woman or the Dark Knight trilogy.
And I give Fox credit for creating the greatest comic book movie of all time in Logan. When the franchise got a film right, it nailed it, giving us movies like X2: X-Men United and Days of Future Past. But for every hit, there's a splatter of garbage like X-Men 3: The Last Stand and Dark Phoenix.
See what I mean? Roller coaster.
Most people thought the series concluded with Dark Phoenix (what a terrible way to go); however, as the late Billy Mays once said, "But wait! There's more!"
There's this movie called The New Mutants that might maybe come out someday and really be the final piece of Fox's X-Men film legacy, even after being bought by Disney.
I'm not Catholic, so I don't really know much about this Purgatory stuff, but if it exists, that's where New Mutants has been languishing for the last few years. The poor movie. It seems every time it gets ready to be released, something happens, upending it.
Would you believe the first trailer for this movie came out in 2017? I vaguely remember seeing it in theaters. It was cut and marketed as a straight-up horror movie. I didn't even know it was related to X-Men until I saw the title was New Mutants.
The story follows five young mutants who are just coming into their powers. They're locked in a secret facility against their will and have to escape. Sounds like a solid premise. Admittedly, I haven't read the comic series this movie is based on.
I was initially torn on seeing New Mutants because I don't do scary movies. Go figure. I don't like being scared. But it was also a comic book movie in the X-Men universe, so I wanted to see it. Plus, it had Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones, and I really liked her performance. I cautiously told myself I could handle a little horror as long as the science fiction outweighed it.
That's what I tell myself with the Alien franchise. I love the xenomorphs and deep space stories related to them, so I suffer through the horror elements. It generally balances out with me having a great time.
Of course, this logic backfired with Annihilation, which gave me nightmares. That freaking corpse bear was terrifying. The movie was impressive, but I can't say I enjoyed it. The horror wasn't outweighed by the science fiction elements.
So I keep telling myself with a little cautious optimism that I'll see New Mutants ... if it is ever released.
But it remains in Purgatory. New Mutants has had almost as many release dates as I've had kidney stones (too many). It was supposed to be released in February 2019, no wait, August 2019, maybe just on digital streaming services, naw, let's do April 3, 2020. Final answer.
Then the coronavirus pandemic struck the United States and all of our nation's movie theaters were shut down. Lord, do I miss going to the movies every week. That was a weekly date night for my wife and me.
Thanks to this virus, Disney (along with just about every other movie studio in the country) has shifted things around. Mulan got bumped back, along with Black Widow and The Eternals. I'm sure Soul will get pushed back. I just hope we get to see Raya and the Last Dragon in November. I've been looking forward to a new original movie from Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2016's Moana.
But with all the shuffle, it seems New Mutants has once again found itself fallen through the cracks. This poor movie. When it got yanked off the release schedule for the billionth time, the House of Mouse neglected to announce a new date.
And now Disney's former CEO Bob Iger said a few more forthcoming movies might be released straight onto Disney+ like Artemis Fowl. Oh boy. That inspires great confidence.
Back before the days of streaming, Disney used to have this money-making strategy called direct-to-DVD. If a movie made money in theaters, then the company would start work on some extremely low-budget sequels and put them out on DVD. That's how we got steaming garbage like Mulan 2, The Lion King 1½, Beauty and the Beast Belle's Magical World, Aladdin 2: Return of Jafar and the list goes on.
I've been worried for a little bit now that Disney might just dust off that old strategy and adapt it to the streaming model. Then we'd get rubbish like Moana 2: Secret of Mystic Waterfall and Tangled 2: The Glowing Braid. Tone down the animation until it's Saturday morning cartoon level, recast the voices to save money, and boom. Instant profit.
So where will New Mutants land? Hulu? Disney+? I have no idea. I'm fairly certain that I'm still committed to watching it. Maybe it'll come out in 2021 and be a massive hit. It would be difficult for Fox's X-Men universe to go out on a more abysmal note like Dark Phoenix. X-Men: Apocalypse was pretty rough, too.
The franchise could use one more win before being absorbed into the MCU, and I'm hoping New Mutants will provide that. Of course, it needs to be released first. If I don't see a new release date soon, I'm sending Dante in to fetch the movie.
MovieStyle on 04/10/2020