#XMen Spin-Off: Fox To Develop “The New Mutants”; Josh Boone To Direct

Despite a recent rumour indicating that “X-Men: Apocalypse” will mark the end of the universe conceptualised by Bryan Singer, it is now confirmed that the “X-Men” cinematic universe is not coming to an end just yet.

20th Century Fox is not ready to let go of the money-making franchise as the studio has taken it into their hands to hire “The Fault In Our Stars” director Josh Boone to create a new team of mutants, literally.

Fox and longtime “X-Men” producer Simon Kinberg are planning to develop a live-action adaptation of popular comic book series “The New Mutants”, a spin-off of the “X-Men” franchise.

Created by Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod, “The New Mutants” first appeared in 1982’s “Marvel Graphic Novel #4″ and was subsequently featured in their own title from 1983 until 1991. It featured a number of lower profile mutants as it focused on a group of teenage mutants superheroes-in-training, including Cannonball, Sunspot, Karma, Wolfsbane, and Dani Moonstar.

Before evolving into the role of an antihero in issues of “X-Force”, cult figure Deadpool made his debut as a supervillain in 1991’s “The New Mutants#98″. Other than his own solo movie, he will appear alongside Cable and possibly this new team of mutants in an “X-Force” film, which has been in the works since 2013.

“Kick-Ass 2″ helmer Jeff Wadlow is attached to write and direct while Lauren Shuler Donner will produce.

In 2003, the 2nd “New Mutant” series was launched, featuring a new group of teenage mutants who were part of a huge cast of students at the Xavier Institute. The series was then relaunched as “New X-Men: Academy X” in 2004. The 3rd New Mutants series, which reunites most of the original team, was launched in May 2009.

It is unclear which team the studio will be using, but It was reported that Boone will pen his own script alongside Knate Gwaltney. Since some members of the team including Blink, Warpath (Booboo Stewart), and Sunspot already appeared in Singer’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past“, Empire Online revealed that we could be seeing a blend of both teams as Fox is most likely going to “play with the continuity and make-up of teams”.

Regarding the new spin-off movie, Kinberg said:

We’re so excited to explore this new part of the X-Men universe, and so excited to do it with Josh, who is uniquely suited to tell this story about young characters.

Boone is currently adapting several projects for multiple studios, including Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles” for Universal and Stephen King’s “The Stand” for Warner Bros.

No release date was set for “The New Mutants” and it won’t arrive so soon as Fox previously slotted an “X-Men” film to be released in 2018.

The full film slate for Fox’s X-Men Cinematic Universe is as follows:

• 7th August 2015: The Fantastic Four
• 12th February 2016: Deadpool
• 27th May 2016: X-Men: Apocalypse
• 7th Oct 2016: Gambit
• 2nd June 2017: The Fantastic Four 2

So, what do you think? Are you excited for the upcoming “X-Men” movies? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.

(Source: Empire Online)