Five reasons why a bare-chested Channing Tatum and company couldn’t save the sequel from a disappointing holiday weekend at the US box office

Magic Mike is an XXL hit with women but why did it turn men off?

Magic Mike XXL, the sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s 2012 surprise summer smash Magic Mike, has been ruled out as a disappointment at the domestic box-office after grossing $28.7m over its first weekend, compared to the $39.1m opening of the original.

If you’re a male in America, you’re likely to blame, as women made up a whopping 96% of the audience over the holiday weekend, a staggering figure that the Hollywood Reporter said is “unheard of”. It marks a substantial increase from the the first film, which attracted a 73% female audience over its opening weekend.

Singled out, the female turnout can be seen as a win for the film’s distributor Warner Bros, but it’s no doubt the lack of a male audience also contributed to Magic Mike XXL’s disappointing weekend figure.

Why did the sequel scare men off, while the first connected? Here are some possible reasons:



The marketing

The chest-baring posters for Magic Mike teased a male-stripper comedy with flesh on its mind. The full-length trailer hinted at something much more: a timely relationship comedy about a stripper who fancies himself as an entrepreneur, just hustling to get by in tough financial times. Like the film itself, the trailer for Magic Mike favors witty exchanges over nudity.

In contrast, XXL promises (and delivers) a sequel tailor-made for audiences disappointed by the lack of stripping in the original by featuring plenty of just that. The trailer completely ignores XXL’s central love story between Channing Tatum and Amber Heard’s character in favor of the promise of a good, naked time.

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Critical reception

Critics for the most part were more favourable to Soderbergh’s original than they were to the underperforming sequel. The original stands at 80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes; XXL is currently down at 64%. Film critics are (unfortunately) a predominantly male breed, and the first film indisputably caters more to a (straight) male audience than the fan-serving sequel, which features more stripping and less musings on the nasty nature of capitalism.

Lack of Matthew McConaughey

At the time of Magic Mike’s release, the Texas-born actor was experiencing a career resurgence following standout dramatic performances in Killer Joe and Mud. That comeback continued on rolling, and landed him his first Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club, a year after Magic Mike hit theaters. His participation in Magic Mike lent the project critical heft that the sequel unfortunately lacks.

Steven Soderbergh no longer in director’s seat

Magic Mike marked one of the final films Soderbergh directed before “retiring” from directing further features, a factor that no doubt led to his fans showing up in support. Having Soderbergh at the helm promised a male-stripper movie with brains, and the director delivered on that. Soderbergh is back as executive producer on XXL and served as the film’s director of photography (under the alias Peter Andrews) and editor (as Mary Ann Bernard), but his name seldom appeared in marketing or reviews for the film. XXL was directed by Soderbergh’s longtime assistant director Gregory Jacobs.

The competition



The first Magic Mike didn’t have to contend with another hit at the box office when it first opened on 29 June 2012. Its only major competition at the time of release was Ted and Pixar’s Brave – both hits, but nowhere near as major as Jurassic World or Inside Out.