Anya Taylor-Joy is an extremely promising young actress whose recent appearance in Apple TV+’s The Gorge
helps to redeem a similar film that flopped a few years earlier. ATJ has had a meteoric rise through the ranks of Hollywood, appearing in projects across every major streaming platform, and on the big and small screens. Thanks to her incredible talent for adapting to play new and diverse characters, and her ability to play cross-genres, she is continuously growing and redefining her career.
However, like any good actor who puts themselves into the grind, there have been good movies and bad movies that ATJ has been involved with. And when it comes to the sci-fi horror genre, ATJ has actually dabbled in this area before she was cast to play one of the leads in The Gorge. Yet, her earlier film was decidedly less popular, and failed to gain real traction.
Anya Taylor-Joy’s The Gorge Movie Helps Redeem The Disappointment Caused By The New Mutants
The Gorge Has A Lot In Common With The New Mutants
Anya Taylor-Joy has by no means stepped away from the spotlight. In 2024 alone, the young actress has appeared in major films like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Dune: Part Two. However, when it comes specifically to sci-fi horror movies, which also happen to feature mutant monsters, ATJ’s The New Mutants has some striking similarities to The Gorge. Both films feature a few leading characters, who find themselves thrust into a role where they have to come together in order to stay alive.
The New Mutants was a Marvel film released in 2020, which served as a branch of the Fox X-Men universe, but unlike many of the other X-Men movies, it was a complete flop. Both in terms of the reception for the film, with many critics and audiences rating the movie incredibly poorly, but also in terms of the film’s box office. Despite a modest budget of less than $70 million, the movie barely scraped together $47.5 million at the box office globally (via The Numbers), meaning before any consideration for marketing costs, it was a bomb.
What Went Wrong With 2020’s The New Mutants
The New Mutants Had Numerous Issues That Led To The Movie’s Failure
In terms of what went wrong, there are a couple of things that led to the spectacular failure of The New Mutants. One, Fox was actively winding down all productions as the studio had been bought out by Disney in 2019. The New Mutants was already in the works, so scrapping it would have been a waste, but Disney and, by extension, Marvel Studios were in no place to label this movie as a part of the MCU. As a result, in a similar way to how the DCEU’s final entries began to dwindle, this movie felt aimless.
|
Movie |
Rotten Tomatoes Critic’s Score |
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score |
|---|---|---|
|
The New Mutants (2020) |
36% |
55% |
|
The Gorge (2025) |
61% |
76% |
But perhaps more offensive for the fanbase was the way in which the characters were represented. Familiar names from Marvel Comics were added and altered, with seemingly no regard for the source material. Fans of the comics were upset by needless and senseless changes, and people who casually engaged with Fox’s X-Men movies had no idea who they were. Add to this that the movie was made as a sci-fi horror for young adults, and the entire production wound up a confused mess that didn’t make a good case for itself or the fanbase, and the response to the movie reflects that.
The Gorge Gives Anya Taylor-Joy Another Marvel Connection
Several Marvel Alums Came Together To Make The Gorge
ATJ’s performance in The New Mutants was also harshly criticized, as her character, Illyana Rasputin, was one of the most unusual cases of a character being totally different from the comics. ATJ may not have been familiar with the material, but it was a lame introduction to a Marvel film, even if it wasn’t set inside the MCU. However, after her time working on The Gorge, ATJ could have a much more pleasant impression about what to expect if she were to join the MCU, thanks to the connections working on The Gorge.
ATJ appears opposite Miles Teller, the other starring role in The Gorge, who also played Reed Richards in the 2015 reboot of Fant4stic. While this was another Marvel project that was harshly criticized, the appearance of both Teller and ATJ in The Gorge provides a much better impression of their talents. And behind the camera, Scott Derrickson directed the movie, following his own time in the MCU as the director for Doctor Strange. Together, the three likely have a lot of stories about what it’s like to work on Marvel productions, and could find themselves yearning for another sH๏τ in the future after the success of The Gorge.
