Josh Boone says New Mutants will be a “full-fledged horror movie”

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

As superhero movies come at a fast and furious rate studios are going to start having to figuring out ways to tell the stories of these spandex-clad heroes in ways that don’t involve the same earth-saving, villain-smashing plot devices. In the case of NEW MUTANTS, director Josh Boone (FAULT IN OUT STARS) has a very unique approach in mind for the newest team-up flick, and one that draws some inspiration from the King himself.

While speaking with EW Boone went on the record to reveal more about the tone of the comic book movie, saying that more than anything it will feel like a horror movie involving young mutants discovering their powers when they're at their "most dangerous":

We are making a full-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe. There are no costumes. There are no supervillains. We’re trying to do something very, very different.

This creative spark can be attributed to Boone’s love of Stephen King, whose stories, along with Marvel comics, were the cornerstone of his childhood passions. He even became pen pals with King as a young lad, and thinks the Bill Sienkiewicz run of NEW MUTANT comics (art below) is very “Stephen King meets John Hughes.” Boone and a friend/collaborator, Knate Lee, even used their love of making their own comics as kids to get the gig for NEW MUTANTS.

We made a comic book with what our vision of the series would be. We love that Fox wants to make all these different X-Men spinoffs as drastically different as they can.

A horror movie angle makes even more sense when you look at some of the characters that will appear in the movie, like Maisie Williams' Wolfsbane, a girl whose abilities allow her to transform into a wolf. Anya Taylor-Joy, who is no stranger to horror with movies like THE WITCH and SPLIT, will play Magik, while 13 REASONS WHY’s Henry Zaga is reportedly in negotiations to star as Sunspot, while Rosario Dawson is rumored to be up for another, unspecified role.

To take such a hot property with a big budget behind it and do something so unexpected is a bold move for the director. But it’s this kind of boldness that could inspire other films in the superhero genre to not play it so safe. If the genre is going to avoid the pitfalls of oversaturation filmmakers have to start thinking outside the box. Sure, MUTANTS could fail spectacularly, but if there’s any superhero movie that could work as a horror flick, it’s one where the girl is basically a little, scary werewolf.  

Filming for NEW MUTANTS is set to kick off in July.