It was a disappointing holiday weekend for both 20th Century Fox and Disney as X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass both underperformed. The latter was plagued by bad reviews and a domestic abuse scandal, while the latest instalment in the X-Men franchise had only the former problem to contend with.
That proved to be more than enough to cut down X-Men: Apocalypse‘s predicted $90 million  – $100 million four day haul to $80 million, a decent result, but a long way from what Days of Future Past earned during the same weekend two years ago (that was a far more impressive $110 million).
“We’re very happy with this result as we introduce new characters in the X-Men universe,” Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson told The Hollywood Reporter. “And for us to be at this number globally already means we’re in good shape.” X-Men: Apocalypse cost them $178 million (that’s $12 million less than the last instalment), so chances are they’re not heartbroken by these numbers, though you have to believe that they were probably expected upwards of $1 billion by the time all is said and done. Instead, a final haul of around $600 million seems more likely now.
X-Men: Apocalypse has made $265.8 million worldwide so far, but is unlikely to make more than the opening weekends of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, and Deadpool in North America by the time its run comes to an end. That’s rather embarrassing for the studio, and Fox will probably be re-thinking their approach to the franchise moving forward after this.
