The New Mutants proves that X-Men characters would work better on TV
By Mark Lynch
The New Mutants highlights that the X-Men would make a better TV show than movie franchise.
For a while it felt like The New Mutants would never come out. The reshoots, merger between 20th Century Fox and Disney, and other shenanigans made this a long process. Nonetheless, the non-MCU Marvel movie made its debut in theaters on August 28, 2020.
Unfortunately, the film bombed at the box office, making only $18.6 million in its opening weekend. The lack of viewers can be attributed to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Another reason could be that it wasn’t movie wasn’t a good movie.
Truthfully, New Mutants seemed doomed before it was released. The aforementioned 20th Century Fox merger left the project in limbo but Dark Phoenix and X-Men: Apocalypse being abysmal last rides for the X-Men didn’t help either. That left people realizing that the X-Men being out of Fox’s hands may have been a good thing. Other than Deadpool 1 & 2 and Logan, Fox hasn’t had a lot of good Marvel Comics outings in recent years – even the praised X-Men: Days of Future Past divided audiences.
Moreover, the comments from New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod really highlighted the negative response to the movie. Bob said,
"“So basically, #JoshBoone erased everything I contributed to the way the characters look… they’ve credited someone named Bob Macleod as co-creator. They couldn’t even be bothered to check the spelling of my name sometime in the last three years. And that can’t be fixed. That will be on the movie forever. I think I’m done with this movie.”"
Marvel Studios having control of the X-Men franchise is a good start for the future of the characters, but that can’t be the only solution. You’ll need the right cast, timing has to be perfect, and you need an amazing creative team. As much as we trust Marvel Studios, we (the fans) will remain cautious. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice and that means I spent $20 to see Dark Phoenix. One good thing did come out of watching New Mutants. It confirmed this writer’s theory that Marvel’s Mutants are better off in a TV series environment rather than headlining a movie franchise.