Simon Kinberg Downplays ‘New Mutants’ Delays & Says Actors’ Schedules Are To Blame

We keep saying that “Dark Phoenix” is the Fox swansong for the ‘X-Men’ franchise, as it features all the major characters we’ve grown to love over the years in their final appearance. But truth be told, the real ending of the Fox/Marvel universe is with 2020’s “The New Mutants.” Originally scheduled for 2018, the Josh Boone-directed film was scheduled to arrive months before “Dark Phoenix,” but has been delayed and delayed and delayed.

Now, speaking to Digital Spy, producer Simon Kinberg tries to explain why “The New Mutants” has been delayed numerous times. You see, apparently, it’s just because the film has to have some simple “pick-ups” and it’s just part of the business. Mhmmm. Yep.

READ MORE: Disney Isn’t Dumping ‘The New Mutants’ On Hulu But Is Delaying It Until 2020

“What’s happening is we’re gonna do reshoots this year on that film and it has a new release date from Disney. That’s really it,” said Kinberg. “Part of it was figuring out what the reshoots were gonna be, the pick-ups, and the other part of it was getting that cast back together.

The writer-director of “Dark Phoenix” is the producer that oversees the ‘X-Men’ franchise and therefore, is someone who knows the ins and outs of the “New Mutants” fiasco. He continues to downplay the behind-the-scenes drama of the film by saying that a large part of the delays are due to the fact that the cast is difficult to bring together, saying that Fox doesn’t schedule things like Marvel Studios does.

READ MORE: ‘New Mutants’ Star Is Just As Confused As You Are About ‘X-Men’ Spin-Off: “Who Knows When The F–k It’s Gonna Come Out?”

“For all of these movies, Marvel’s really brilliant at scheduling pick-ups into their budget and schedule so it’s all prepared, and we have never been that smart,” Kinberg revealed. “For us, we’re always scrambling to get these actors back together so they’re all in the same place at the same time.”

While that may explain why some films, like “Dark Phoenix,” had to change a release date by a few months to accommodate schedules, it doesn’t really fit with what Kinberg just said about the reshoots. By saying these are just “pick-ups,” which is what is normally referred to as the reshoots that happen on many films that require a few extra days to extend scenes, insert a line or two, and minor things like that, you wouldn’t think that the entire cast would be required. Plus, this contradicts his own actors, who were just as in the dark as fans, apparently.

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So, by that logic, these reshoots are likely much bigger than he’s leading us to believe, and similar to reshooting the entire third act of “Dark Phoenix,” “The New Mutants” is probably going to be subject to a fairly big overhaul. This should be a bit of a nightmare for those on set that have to worry about continuity, considering the film originally went into production in 2017. I’m sure we’ll all be on the lookout for wigs, makeup differences, and whatever else is blatantly obvious in a reshoot. Let’s just hope it doesn’t require CGI to remove facial hair.

“The New Mutants” is scheduled to be released on April 3, 2020.