'The New Mutants' is absolutely an X-Men movie, says Josh Boone

Filmmaker Josh Boone has revealed that his much-awaited film "The New Mutants" is part of the "X-Men" universe.

The film, featuring Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga and Blu Hunt, is based on the "New Mutants" comic which was the first X-Men spin-off and released in 1982.

"It's absolutely an X-Men movie. There's references and things that happen that are part of the greater whole, but we very much wanted it to tonally and aesthetically stand on its own," Boone told Digital Spy.

"It's very grounded and very credible and because we shot it in a real location, it just will never look like a typical comic book movie where there's a lot of green screen, and everything sort of looks like there's a painted sheen of CGI across it. We're really going for something not an indie movie, but a little more rough around the edges like that," he added.

"The New Mutants" is scheduled to be released in April.