The New Mutants, Disney's X-Men spinoff starring Maisie Williams, to now release on 28 August

The New Mutants, the horror-tinged X-Men spinoff, is slated to be released in theatres on August 28, Disney has announced.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the much-awaited film was earlier scheduled for a spring release but was taken off the calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Disney inherited the film upon acquiring 20th Century Fox.

Here is the new release date announcement 

we’re back pic.twitter.com/QilFP7jVmt

— X-Men Movies (@XMenMovies) May 13, 2020

Directed by Josh Boone, the film follows a group of young mutants trapped in a secret facility. It features Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga and Blu Hunt.

The New Mutants, based on the comic of the same name, was the first X-Men spinoff and released in 1982.

Taylor-Joy plays Russian mutant Illyana Rasputin/Magik, who uses teleportation discs and sorcery to move from place to place. Williams portrays Scottish mutant Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane, who straddles between her religious beliefs and her desire to turn into a wolf. Heaton is American mutant Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, who is invulnerable when he propels into the air.

Henry Zaga is Brazilian mutant Roberto da Costa/Sunspot, who can manipulate energy from the sun. Hunt is the Native American mutant Danielle Moonstar/Mirage, who can create illusions using the fears and desires from people's personal thoughts. Finally, Braga plays Cecilia Reyes, a doctor and the group's mentor, who has the ability to generate a protective bio-shield around herself.

The movie has had a tumultuous journey to release which led to intense speculation that it would skip theatres and go directly to streaming, which wasn't the case.

Shot in 2017, the film was originally was set to arrive in theatres on 13 April, 2018, before being pushed back 10 months to 22 February, 2019.

The release date was further pushed to 2 August, 2019, with insiders suggesting reshoots would happen to tweak the film.

Reshoots never took place, and the film remains largely what test audiences saw back in 2017, but with finished visual effects.

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)