The 12th and final planned film in the 19-year-old X-Men franchise, the $200 million Dark Phoenix, bombed in its opening weekend, earning a franchise low of $33 million at the domestic box office.
Scorched by poor reviews, Dark Phoenix finished in second over the weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday. Audiences who showed up to see Dark Phoenix seemed to agree with critics, giving it a poor B- CinemaScore. Finance experts tell us that the film will burn out with an estimated $100 million -$120 million loss after ancillaries, off a combined production and estimated cost of $350 million plus.
Directed by longtime X-Men scribe Simon Kinberg, Dark Phoenix focuses on Jean Grey who is played by Sophie Turner fresh off of her Game of Thrones run as Sansa Stark. It also brought back James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. It's the conclusion to the modern series of X-Men movies that started in 2000.
"It's softer than we hoped," said Cathleen Taff, Disney's president of theatrical distribution. "While the film didn't open the way we wanted, we think the legacy of the X-Men series is important and it's more important than how one film opens. We're trying to keep it in perspective." Internationally, however, Dark Phoenix finished first with $107 million from 53 territories including China. Globally, the film earned $140 million.
On the other hand, Disney's Secret Life of Pets 2 and Aladdin are winning big at the box-office.
(Source: The Associated Press)
