'The New Mutants' Debuts Opening Scene And Lots Of New Footage, Still Set To Open Next Month [Comic-Con 2020]
The New Mutants has become something of a punchline at this point – a movie that's been delayed so many times that it feels like it will never, ever come out. And the people behind the film are aware of that, which is why the Comic-Con 2020 panel for the film kicked-off with an amusing teaser in which the many release dates keep flashing onto the screen only to get crossed out. And while I'm sure many people were hoping that would end with a new release date revealing the film was dropping on Disney+, that didn't happen.
But the panel did reveal a bunch of new footage, which you can watch below.
Instead of moving yet again, the film is sticking with its recently announced release date.
You may be wondering why Disney doesn't just suck it up and drop this bad boy onto their streaming service. I don't have an official answer, but for what it's worth, I've heard through the grapevine that Disney doesn't actually have the streaming rights to the film – HBO does. Why? Well, because New Mutants has been knocking around for so long that the streaming debut was signed with HBO back when the movie was solely the property of Fox. The Fox-Disney deal changed that, but the contract still stands. So even if Disney wanted to drop this directly to streaming, they might not be able to. Again: this is an unconfirmed rumor, and should be taken with a grain of salt. But that might explain what's going on here.
In any case, there was still a New Mutants panel, and it revealed...well, not much. Writer/Director Josh Boone was there, along with cast members Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt, and Henry Zaga. They were all in great spirits, and seem to have a real comradery with each other, even though they weren't actually in the same room for the panel. New Mutants artist Bill Sienkiewicz also popped-in for a moment to sing the praises of the film and reveal that he and Josh Boone actually recorded a Blu-ray commentary track for the movie just before the coronavirus sent everyone into lockdown. Sienkiewicz also debuted a poster he created for the film that fans can win by tweeting out the following hashtags:
And here's a look at that poster.
From there, the cast (and Boone) mostly just had fun, looking at some fan-art, talking about the official emojis for the characters, and making the best of a weird situation. The panel made a point to focus on the romantic relationship between Maisie Williams' character Rhane and Blu Hunt's Danielle Moonstar. Williams talked about how she and Hunt did a "chemistry read" while casting was going on, and really clicked. Williams added that "it was really great to see a relationship like this," between two female characters, in a superhero movie. Boone chimed in to add that the chemistry test would be included as an extra on the Blu-ray, assuming that ever comes out.
The panel concluded with the first few minutes of the film, which you can watch here or in the embed below.
The film opens with narration: "Inside every person there are two bears, forever locked in combat for your soul. One bear is all things good. The other...is all things evil." The Demon Bear saga plays a big part in the movie, and Boone said earlier in the panel that he was always a huge fan of the way that comic run blended horror and fantasy.
After the title card, we're thrust into chaos. There's lots of frantic action as Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt) is violently awakened by loud explosions. Her father rushes into her bedroom and forces her outside into the snow, where the chaos continues. More things explode, the camera shakes uncontrollably, and a car flies through the air. It's incoherent to the extreme, and while this is no doubt Josh Boone's intent – to create confusing chaos – it gets real old, real fast.
In the midst of the mayhem, a dead body fall right in front of her, and Danielle gets up and runs – and it's clear something is chasing her. Something huge. As she bolts through the forest, she falls and is knocked unconscious, only to wake up handcuffed to a hospital bed. That's weird enough, but to make things extra surreal, she notices someone in the air duct in the ceiling overhead looking down at her.
From here, the video turns into a sizzle reel that starts off very similar to the footage that was just released the other day before offering even more new footage, all of which really hammers home the idea that this isn't just another superhero movie – it's a horror superhero movie. Lots of shots of dark and stormy nights, shadowy rooms, and people getting terrified of what's going on. There's also a moment where Anya Taylor-Joy yells, "DEMON BEAR," so it has that going for it.
And that was it. I know fans were really hoping that Disney would pull the trigger and drop this thing onto Disney+, but that's just not happening. At least not yet. For now, everyone who wants to see The New Mutants will have to hold out hope for that August 28, 2020 release date.