According to The New Mutants director Josh Boone, the film was intended to have a PG-13 rating from the beginning.
After its release yesterday, Boone posted the second trailer for The New Mutants on his Instagram. In the comments on the post, he responded to a fan's question about the rating, writing, "The movie has always been and will always be PG-13. There was never a plan for an R-rated film."
R-rated comic book films have seen great success over the last few years. Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Joker bowed to positive reactions from both critics and audiences. Joker made over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Boone's past works include 2012's Stuck in Love and 2014's The Fault in Our Stars. He also served as screenwriter on 2016's All We Had and 2018's The Pretenders.
The release of The New Mutants has been delayed several times, most recently due to the acquisition of 20th Century Fox properties by Disney. The film was originally planned to release on April 13, 2018.
Directed and co-written by Josh Boone, The New Mutants stars Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane, Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin/Magik, Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, Henry Zaga as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot, Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar/Mirage and Alice Braga as Dr. Cecilia Reyes. The film arrives in theaters April 3.