While Dark Phoenix reviews are still coming in following its debut in theaters this past weekend, things are looking pretty bad for the movie that was supposed to end the 19-year-old X-Men film franchise on a good note.
We’re talking 23% on Rotten Tomatoes bad.
Racking in only $33M domestically, Dark Phoenix saw the lowest debut ever in the Fox/Marvel film series here in the States. Even with top-charting success on a global scale, the No.1 bow-out was modest in comparison to the past few X-Men films.
Here’s how Deadline is breaking down the demise of Dark Phoenix:
“Even though Dark Phoenix is the No. 1 winner around the globe with $140M –down substantially from the worldwide launches of X-Men: Days of Future Past ($262.9M), Logan ($247.4M) and X-Men: Apocalypse ($166.6M), finance experts tell us that the tale of Jean Grey will burn out with an estimated $100M-$120M loss after ancillaries, off a combined production and P&A estimated cost of $350M+ (which includes reshoots). Final global B.O. is projected at $300M-$325M, with one film finance suit telling us “If it drops like a stone, $285M. Don’t forget it was a holiday in China, and even that was pretty low ($45.7M).”
Many attributions are being thrown around as to why Dark Phoenix is getting so much flack, including the already negative reaction that its predecessor Apocalypse received back in 2016, in addition to production delays and a major downsizing that took it from being a two-part film to just one. Many are expecting the recent Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox to right these wrongs in a newly-rebooted cinematic universe in the near future. Unfortunately, that won’t be happening for at least another five years according to Gizmodo.
Did you see Dark Phoenix this past weekend? Let us know what side of the 23% you’re on by hitting us up on Twitter and Facebook with your reviews.
