The New Mutants, a movie that feels like it’s never going to actually come out, has a new release date: August 28th.

Like Mulan and Black Widow, The New Mutants was delayed because of the global pandemic, which saw movie theaters around the world shut down. Disney announced in an earlier press release that Mulan and Black Widow would move into their new release dates, July 24th and November 6th respectively, but didn’t mention The New Mutants at the time. Fans began speculating that The New Mutants could wind up a Disney Plus or as a Hulu exclusive, since Disney owns both streaming services and The New Mutants is now a Disney title following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Disney has already shifted some of its theatrical releases, like Artemis Fowl and Hamilton, to now premiere on Disney Plus exclusively.

Described as “an original horror thriller set in an isolated hospital where a group of young mutants is being held for psychiatric monitoring,” The New Mutants is a movie that fans have waited years to see. Fox first made plans to develop the movie in 2015, with the project going into production in 2016. Filming originally ended in September 2017, and then trouble started. In January 2018, Fox moved the release date back to February 2019, which allowed Deadpool 2 to run without contestation from another Marvel movie at Fox. Months later, The New Mutants faced similar woes and was delayed again to ensure that Dark Phoenix, another X-Men movie, wouldn’t have any competition.

Now, however, it looks like The New Mutants will finally get its day. That is, if Disney thinks theaters will be back up and running. Right now, studios are trying to figure out when the best time to start releasing their films is, watching as states around the country start to reopen or further lockdown restrictions. Warner Bros. and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is largely seen as the litmus test for studios going forward.

Depending on what happens between now and then, The New Mutants might be one of the first movies to hit theaters and, in a stunning turn of events, could become one of 2020’s biggest summer movies.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/13/21257473/new-mutants-release-date-august-2020-disney-fox-xmen-tenet-mulan-black-widow