The New Mutants: Why It’s Happening to HBO Max, Not Disney + or Hulu

The new mutants will finally be available to stream in April. The horror-tinged X-Men movie will be available on HBO Max on April 10 (starting at 8 p.m. EST, when it begins airing on HBO’s main channel). platform, that’s understandable. Surely an X-Men movie produced by Fox should be on Disney +, or Hulu, since Fox was captured by Disney? Well, yes, but there are complications. In short: pre-arranged contracts that were in place before Disney acquired Fox. For full details on why it can’t debut on Disney +, please read our article below that we prepared ahead of the movie’s theatrical release, which explains the whole situation. is postponed for a fifth time, tentatively maintaining the August 28, 2020 premiere date, many fans are still wondering why this movie, originally slated for April 13, 2018, can’t just go on VOD for those who want to air it during the Spring / Summer 2020 quarantine. .

So many other titles were published on Digital at the start, or moved completely to digitalDisney is still determined to have a theatrical release for The New Mutants – instead of releasing it on Disney + or (the majority owned by Disney) Hulu. What is the reason? Why can’t they do whatever they want after acquiring Fox? Well here’s the quick and dirty truth …

Have you seen the new mutants?

YESNO

Josh Boone’s New Mutants – which unlike other films in the X-Men franchise had a very specific horror-movie vibe – received a release date in 2018 before. Fox has gone for many covers that would make it more intense and rated R to match the tone of 2017 It: Chapter One, which was a huge success. The film, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams (and stars the team face-to-face cartoon nemesis demon bear), then moved to the release dates February 22, 2019 and August 2, 2019 before landing permanently on April 3, 2020 – where was hit theaters in its original form, because the reruns may not even have happened.

Then the COVID-19 crisis took root and all the films of the last few months were shaken up. Will theaters be ready for The New Mutants in August? Who has to say? But we know, based on The Den of Geek Report, that 20th Century Fox had existing cable rights agreements for some of their titles at the time Disney acquired Fox, which prevents The New Mutants from being transferred to Disney-owned streaming platforms. This means that all Fox movies released in the next couple of years must premiere on the HBO Now / HBO Go streaming service.

Also, according to Variety, Disney is contractually obligated to theatrically release all finished films, or films in post-production, that were on Fox’s schedule at the time of acquisition.

Apparently the only way for Disney to move the new mutants to streaming at this point is Collider, is for Josh Boone and the cast to “change their contracts and sign a new deal” and for Disney to also kind of renegotiate Fox’s HBO contract. Is it achievable? Probably. Is it worth it? Well, it’s up to Disney to decide. It’s a lot of work for a quirky X-movie that fans can’t wait to see, it’s also, fundamentally, the bookend of a dead, bubbly franchise.

Matt Fowler is a writer for the IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.