Josh Boone Says The New Mutants May Be The “Hardest PG-13 Ever Made”

There’s a new, villain-centric issue of Empire Magazine in the pipeline, and though it doesn’t go on general sale until Thursday, January 25th, a smattering of precious movie intel has already escaped onto the Internet.

Case in point: earlier today we relayed an interview with Joe Russo, who detailed Avengers: Infinity War and why he believes the crossover film belongs to Thanos, Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan. Elsewhere on the Empire slate, Bloody Disgusting has unearthed an intriguing tidbit relating to The New Mutants, Fox and Josh Boone’s horror-tinged spinoff that was recently bumped back into 2019 – a full 10 months after its original due date.

But The New Mutants is still headed for theaters, and when it arrives, it has a good chance of becoming the “hardest PG-13 ever made.” How’s that for a pull quote?

Here’s what Josh Boone told Empire:

This movie is probably the hardest PG-13 ever made. I mean, we’ve pushed it. The horror is pretty dark, but there’s also an emotional core, too. If I can scare you and make you cry: that’s the goal.

Following in the footsteps of Fox’s other mutant successes (see: Deadpool, Logan), The New Mutants has some mighty big boots to fill if it’s to live up to expectations, and the mere fact that Fox delayed its star-studded offshoot until February 2019 has only raised more cause for concern.

Still, if there’s one thing we can tell you without absolute certainty, it’s that the likes of Wolfsbane and Sunspot won’t be suiting up in 12 months’ time:

“There are no costumes. That alone makes it different,” said Boone. “They can’t be with the other kids at the X-Mansion. They’re too fucked up. They’ve all killed people, whether intentionally or unintentionally.”

In light of Fox’s scheduling shake-up, The New Mutants has relocated to February 22nd, 2019, where it’s been placed in the company of Lionsgate’s Hellboy redo.