X-Men: Dark Phoenix on Track to Lose Over $100 Million at Box Office

While the X-Men franchise is set to end with the release of Dark Phoenix, it will wrap up nearly 20 years of popular films that have drawn viewers to the box office. But after all of the missteps the franchise has taken with the main X-Men films in the last few years, it seems like all of that good will has been squandered as Dark Phoenix appears to be the lease successful movie in the series.

A new report from Deadline indicates that not only is Dark Phoenix suffering the worst opening box office of every X-Men film in the series, it is also on track to lose over $100 million after such a sluggish start.

According to the report, the total cost for the Dark Phoenix Prints and Advertising cost estimates to over $350 million. And after the sluggish opening at this weekend's box office, the total loss is projected between $100 million and $120 million with ancillaries.

Current estimates put Dark Phoenix at making between $300 million to $325 million, though an investor notes that it could make as little as $285 worldwide if it sinks. The investor cites the $45.7 million made in China on a holiday, which is low for those circumstances.

There is a lot of speculation surrounding why this X-Men movie did so poorly, and there could be a few different factors. One is the continued decline in quality for the series, especially after X-Men: Apocalypse. Other theories suggest the new X-Men franchise has not resonated with fans like the original trilogy, which goes hand-in-hand with another suggestion that fans already made peace with the franchise's ending when Logan premiered.

Whatever the case is for Dark Phoenix, it's hardly the ending 20th Century Fox wanted to have for the franchise when they delayed its release date multiple times. Luckily now Marvel Studios can pick up the slack with Disney's acquisition completed. It might take a while until the X-Men appear in the MCU, but it will likely be a lot more successful than this.

Dark Phoenix is now playing in theaters.

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