Horror-influenced The New Mutants officially lands PG-13 rating

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The upcoming 20th Century Studio release of THE NEW MUTANTS may have taken some of its tone and inspiration from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS but this is still a Marvel release geared towards a younger demo so it will not share that film's R-rated sensibilities. It has officially been announced that THE NEW MUTANTS will sport a family-friendly PG-13 rating.

The news was revealed on The Exhibitor Relations Co. Twitter account with the page tweeting:

"Fox's THE NEW MUTANTS has been rated PG-13: violent content, some disturbing/bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material…all involving people that were teens when this was filmed, but are now adults."

If you can remember back to three years ago when the first trailer for THE NEW MUTANTS was released, the first-look promised something a little different from your typical comic movie adaptations, particularly from the X-MEN franchise. The horror film tone, which skews a bit darker, had some believing THE NEW MUTANTS could receive an R-rating to allow the horror themes to be pushed even further. To be fair, director Josh Boone squashed those rumors when he revealed that an R-rating was never really considered for the project. That being said, it's not like the X-MEN franchise hasn't explored the R-rating before and to great success. 2017's LOGAN was R-rated and was financially and critically successful while DEADPOOL & DEADPOOL 2 were also very successful.

Even if THE NEW MUTANTS flirted with an R-rating it's probably best they went this route. The film has been plagued with delays and has seen a bumpy road to the big screen so I doubt 20th Century Studios and Disney wanted to hurt whatever box office potential it could have. At this point we should just be happy we're getting the film at any rating.

Do YOU think THE NEW MUTANTS should've gone for an R-rating? THE NEW MUTANTS hits screens on April 3, 2020.