The ‘X-Men’ became one of the best-selling and popular franchises in comics thanks to the book’s fantastical take on prejudice and persecution. And while that appeals to a wide range of marginalized groups, its fan base has traditionally consisted largely of adolescents and now it seems that group is getting their own ‘X-Men’ movie, specifically ‘New Mutants‘.
“That’s more of a Young Adult movie,” producer Simon Kinberg announced, referring to the currently in-development flick which is slated to be directed by Josh Boone, who previously crafted the film adaptation of YA novel ‘The Fault In Our Stars’, which happens to have featured Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, both of whom also happen to star in the unfolding ‘Divergent Series‘ films, also based on YA novels.
Is the success of the ‘Divergent Series’ not to mention franchises like ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Twilight’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ influencing the ‘X-Men’ line? Quite possibly. While superhero movies draw a wide audience, there haven’t been any that have really targeted the teenage girl demographic. Could highlighting such multifaceted adolescent female protagonists as Danielle Moonstar, Karma, Wolfsbane, Magik and Boom Boom potentially open up the popularity of this brand to an even wider audience?
‘The New Mutants’ comic book centered on a young group of teenage mutants taken in by Professor X to learn to control their emerging super abilities, but were supposed to strictly act as students, not superheroes. Of course, teens will be teens and they often found themselves embroiled in their own adventures, sometimes involving the students of the Massachusetts Academy, run by the evil Emma Frost, who assembled her own class of students called the Hellions, most of whose powers coincidentally mirrored those of the New Mutants.
The New Mutants were featured as supporting characters on the ‘X-Men: Evolution’ animated series. A few characters from the series have also popped up in the movies, like Sunspot, Blink and Warpath. The ‘New Mutants’ comic eventually morphed into ‘X-Force’ which Fox had in development as a separate movie but that appears to have been scrapped.
What do you think of an ‘X-Men’ movie that’s extra heavy on the angst?
Source: Cinema Blend
