Could The New Mutants be the next comic book movie to get the R-rated treatment? According to producer Simon Kinberg, that isn't at all off the table. Director Josh Boone has been working with and, according to some reports, clashing with Fox over some pretty significant reshoots being done on the horror-themed X-Men spin-off. Clashing or no clashing, this is going to be a relatively different movie when the new cut is done and it looks like that cut may be a little more on the mature side.

Simon Kinberg recently did an interview in order to provide an update on the status of the X-Men projects Fox currently has in development, which have been delayed several times as the Disney merger looms large. Kinberg is making his directorial debut with Dark Phoenix, but he's also involved with The New Mutants as a producer. When asked whether or not that movie will be R-rated, he had this to offer.

"It's the kind of movie that could go R, or it could be a hard PG-13. As I was saying before in terms of sub-genres or the genre, it is obviously teased as a horror film, and most horror films these days are R-rated, but it stars a very young cast, so we'll see. It really is what the movie wants to be. The studio is open to either rating... Traditionally, superhero movies are PG-13 other than Logan and the Deadpool movies, and generally, horror films are R-rated, so we'll see where this one falls. It is a very scary, edgy movie."

Indeed, the first teaser trailer for The New Mutants leaned really heavily into the horror angle. But that teaser was released long before these reshoots were ordered, back when the movie was supposed to arrive in April of this year. It's since been delayed a couple of times and will now hit theaters in August 2019. Assuming that it doesn't get delayed yet again.

Between the horror and the success that Fox found with Deadpool and Logan, it would probably be wise not to insist on a PG-13 rating. They've done well by allowing things to be what they should be. But at this point, it seems as though they've sunk a lot of money and time into something that didn't seem to have Deadpool-level potential in the first place. Not to mention that, if Gambit doesn't get filming soon, The New Mutants will be, in all likelihood, the last X-Men project released under the Fox regime before Disney takes over.

These New Mutants reshoots will be adding in a new character, which many speculate is iconic comic book favorite Warlock, which means they're reasonably substantial and are more than the standard pickup shots ordered on blockbusters these days. Not to mention the intricate CGI that will have to be rendered if they are, in fact, bringing Warlock to the big screen. Star Anya Taylor-Joy recently had some nice words to say about the movie, despite the issues, but it's hard to have something like that instill a lot of confidence since she's so directly involved. It will be interesting, in any case, to see how this all shakes out. This news was first reported by Collider.