Entertainment

'New Mutants' 2020 trailer brings the first real Marvel horror movie

Three years after the first trailer, 'The New Mutants' is finally here.

by Eric Francisco

At long last, the first real Marvel horror movie is finally here — and no, we’re not talking about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As if to make up for the last two years where one media conglomerate was grotesquely absorbed into another, the long-awaited second trailer for The New Mutants, directed by Josh Boone and hitting theaters on April 3, 2020 (finally), brings nothing but fear, tension, and terror.

On Monday, the studio still calling itself “20th Century Fox” released the trailer for The New Mutants, two years after the film was originally slated to release in theaters. Set in the world of the X-Men film universe (R.I.P.), The New Mutants follows a new generation of mutant teenagers who are forced to live in an asylum, where their fears manifest to the brink of killing them.

The new trailer, made up of majority unseen footage, showcases the individual characters and their powers. Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams) can turn into a wolf; Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy) has sorcery-like powers and is the sister of Colossus; Sunspot (Henry Zaga) can generate solar energy; Cannonball (Charlie Heaton) can leap into the air with invulnerability; and Mirage (Blu Hunt) can create illusions.

The New Mutants also stars Alice Braga (Queen of the South) as Dr. Cecilia Reyes, another character from the comics who serves as a doctor and “mentor” to the group. Reyes also has powers, able to generate force fields around herself.

A post-credits scene, originally featuring Mad Men’s Jon Hamm as the X-Men villain Mister Sinister, will have Antonio Banderas in an unknown role.

The cast of 'The New Mutants,' which is finally hitting theaters in April 2020 two years after its original date.

20th Century Fox

Originally scheduled to release in theaters April 2018, the film fell victim to numerous delays, which among many reasons was chalked up to the multibillion-dollar acquisition of the 20th Century Fox film studio and library by rival Disney. Although based on a Marvel Comics series, the hard-R horror approach by Boone posed a problem for Disney, which Variety reported in 2019 was “unimpressed” by the film and believed it had “limited box office potential.”

Notably, the film was excluded from Kevin Feige’s presentation of Marvel movies at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, save for a vague mention of “mutants” at the end. 2021’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was touted by Feige to be the first Marvel horror movie (and is still technically true, if fans consider it to be the first horror film in the MCU). But with The New Mutants now cemented in its April 2020 release date, the movie is poised to beat the Sorcerer Supreme at the horror movie game.

Popular speculation was The New Mutants would see release on Hulu, the streaming service that’s also fallen under the Disney umbrella; when Disney acquired Fox, it also acquired its share in Hulu, giving Disney majority stake. (Comcast, the only other owner in Hulu, will sell its share to Disney by 2024.) Two other Marvel productions, the TV shows Ghost Rider and Helstrom were in development for Hulu until the plug was pulled on Ghost Rider. Helstrom is currently filming and is expected to wrap its first season in February 2020.

The New Mutants hits theaters on April 3, 2020.

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