'New Mutants' Adding A Character During Reshoots, 'X-Force' Movie Shoots In October & More

As the possibility of a merger between Walt Disney Pictures and 20th Century Fox looms, the latter studio isn't slowing down development on any of their projects. When it comes to any developments on films featuring Marvel Comics characters, it seems like the studio is trying to get as much off the ground as they can while the House of Mouse tries to finalize the deal.

Several new developments have surfaced from 20th Century Fox when it comes to Marvel properties. While we just heard about a Silver Surfer movie in the works, new details on the reshoots that caused New Mutants to be pushed back to 2019 have surfaced and it sounds like Fox wants to get the Deadpool spin-off X-Force off the ground as soon as possible.

You might remember that New Mutants was pushed back from its initial theatrical release this April all the way to early 2019. Word on the street has been New Mutants will be undergoing significant reshoots this summer. Those rumors have signaled that the reshoots are pretty drastic because the test screenings were not satisfactory and the movie needed to be scarier. Cast member Maisie Williams has refuted those claims, but she could easily be partaking in carefully planned damage control. However, there is new evidence that might support the idea that New Mutants needed to be significantly reworked.

In The Hollywood Reporter's round-up of Marvel-centric updates from 20th Century Fox, they report the reshoots will include the addition of a new character in the movie. While there are no details about who that character might be or what purpose they will serve, that doesn't sound like a traditional part of the usual reshoots that come with blockbuster movies. Hopefully, this doesn't mean New Mutants is in trouble, but we'll be waiting another year before we find out since it doesn't hit theaters until February 22, 2019.

Even though we won't see Deadpool 2 arrive in theaters until May 18, 2018, plans for the expansion of the character's universe on the big screen are already in the works.

As we noticed when the last trailer for Deadpool 2 was released, we're going to see characters who are part of the mutant mercenary squad known as X-Force. In this particular movie, it seems like Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) assembles the team to take on Cable (Josh Brolin), but in the comics, Deadpool and Cable are both part of the team that has had a varied line-up over the years. We've known there have been plans for an X-Force movie to team up Deadpool and Cable for awhile, but now we have word that it might be coming sooner than later.

Reportedly Fox has their eye on beginning production on X-Force in October with both Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin on board to reprise their roles. As for whether any of the other X-Force members appearing in Deadpool 2 will be involved, we'll have to wait and see. But if they're shooting in October this year, there's a good chance they're looking to make the November 22, 2019 date Fox staked out last summer.

Meanwhile, continuing on the "100 miles per hour" speed that one executive has touted with regards to developing projects at Fox, the studio is still hoping to find a director for the constantly delayed X-Men spin-off Gambit starring Channing Tatum, currently set for release on June 7, 2019. Plus, they're also still working on that Fantastic Four spin-off from Fargo creator Noah Hawley focusing on villain Doctor Doom, a project that has no ties to the reboot from director Josh Trank that bombed a few years ago.

But the question remains as to whether Fox's plans are all for naught if Disney ends up in control of all these Marvel characters. If Marvel Studios ends up with these properties in their hands, surely the trajectory of many of these characters will change. While Deadpool might have solid footing that likely wouldn't require much manipulation, it's likely any X-Men characters would be drastically overhauled for inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The same can probably be said for Fantastic Four as well.

Let's not forget that Fox has March 13, 2020; June 26, 2020; October 2, 2020; and March 5, 2021 staked out for Marvel releases. They could be taken up by the aforementioned Kitty Pryde or Silver Surfer movies, or maybe projects we don't even know about yet, like another Deadpool sequel or a new X-Men movie. But those release dates will probably change plenty of times between now and then, so anything is possible. For now, stay tuned to see what happens with these Marvel projects developing at Fox, and perhaps more important, what happens with the deal between Fox and Disney.