Oh X-Men: Dark Phoenix, whatever are we to do with you?
Once upon a time, not too long ago, the X-Men movie franchise was one of the big cheeses of the cinematic superhero world. 2000’s X-Men did a lot to cement the tone of the modern superhero film, with entries in the series garnering critical acclaim and cleaning up at the box office. The franchise even survived a few wobbles, moving past the disasters of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine and filling out its universe with offbeat hits like Deadpool and Logan.
But now, with the rights to the franchise owned by Disney and the characters soon to be appearing in the MCU, it seems that Fox’s take on the franchise is going to go out with a whimper. That’s because the usually reliable Box Office Pro is pegging the film at a $40-50 million opening weekend, which puts it below even the first entry in the franchise way back in 2000.
Worse yet, the prediction for the entire domestic run is just $113 million. Considering that the budget is over $200 million, a figure swollen and distended by the many, many reshoots the film suffered, that could leave it burning a hole in the studio’s pocket.
The site puts X-Men: Dark Phoenix‘s likely failure down to a number of factors. Prime among them are some unconvincing trailers that have failed to get fans hyped up, which has resulted in next to no social media traction. This has led to the conclusion that this incarnation of the X-Men is all but done, with audiences knowing that they’ll soon be rebooted and folded into the MCU sapping any interest in the movie.
Oh well, if this is the last of Fox’s take on the franchise, at least some of its DNA will continue in whatever Disney decides to do with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. I guess it’s strangely appropriate that he’d end up being the last mutant standing, eh?
