The New Mutants director Josh Boone admits he feels less pressure when it comes to his long-awaited X-Men film thanks to Dark Phoenix‘s less than stellar performance. Boone’s film has faced an incredible amount of setbacks, first due to the Disney-Fox merger that postponed The New Mutants multiple times. Its most recent release date of April 3 really seemed like it would stick, but unforeseen circumstances caused by the coronavirus outbreak led The New Mutants to be delayed indefinitely. Some fans are now calling for the film to be released on Disney+, though it’s unclear of Disney will go that route or if it will simply wait for things to return to normal.
Last year’s Dark Phoenix faced its own share of delays, though they didn’t help transform the film into a success. In addition to only earning $65.8 million domestically ($246.3 million worldwide), Dark Phoenix was slapped with a dismal 23% Rotten Tomatoes critics score. Starring Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Dark Phoenix sought to rectify the mistakes made by X-Men: The Last Stand by providing a better adaptation of the classic Dark Phoenix storyline from the comics. However, fans were largely unimpressed by Dark Phoenix, and it turns out that Boone was as well.
While talking to Empire (via Digital Spy), Boone admitted he doesn’t feel much pressure for The New Mutants to perform well because of Dark Phoenix. Putting it simply, Boone said, “Look, you can only go up after Dark Phoenix. That’s not to say anything bad about the people involved, but it was what it was.” He then elaborated by saying, “Honestly, I feel less pressure now than I did ahead of [the first slated release date]. Because we’ve tested our movie so many times, and audiences have loved it.”
Boone has been open about his feelings toward the final cut of The New Mutants, saying that it was the film he set out to make. His cast members, which include Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy, have largely echoed that Boone remains happy with how The New Mutants has turned out, even if he may not get the chance to create the sequels he once planned on. The only thing standing in The New Mutants’ way is its inability to hold down a release date, though the latest change has nothing to do with the film itself. After everything it’s been through, The New Mutants will definitely see the light of day; it’s only a matter of when.
Boone seems very confident that The New Mutants is better than Dark Phoenix, but it’ll be down to the fans to make the final verdict. Some might echo Boone’s comments and say anything could be better, especially since Boone himself referred to Dark Phoenix as one of the worst-reviewed films of 2019. Until The New Mutants is released, though, it’s hard to say whether Boone is right.
