Fallen Phoenix
Where does X-Men franchise go from here?
LOS ANGELES — When Disney announced its $71.3-billion acquisition of 20th Century Fox, X-Men was among the film properties that had executives at the Magic Kingdom frothing at the mouth. The historic merger meant the Fox-owned band of mutant superheroes could reunite with its comic-book brethren in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It was the kind of super team-up that had the potential to be one of the most lucrative crossovers of all time — a rare chance to see Cyclops and Professor X aligned with Spider-Man and Black Panther.
After Dark Phoenix became the first X-Men entry to flop spectacularly at the box office, the future of the 20-year-old film franchise looks murkier. The superhero adventure misfired with a disastrous $33 million in North America, by far the worst opening for an X-Men title. Compounding matters, it cost a hefty $200 million to produce. That doesn’t even take into account the hundreds of millions in global marketing and distribution fees it incurred. (All figures in U.S. dollars.)
Dark Phoenix had a slightly stronger start overseas, but even so, it would take a miracle for it to turn a profit. As it stands, box office watchers think that the film could lose $100 million. Dark Phoenix is intended to mark a culmination of sorts for the X-Men saga (at least this iteration of the mutant heroes). Nobody expects one of the biggest film franchises to leave the big screen for good. But those dismal ticket sales signal that Disney may need to give the X-Men a break while they recover from a crippling case of franchise fatigue.
In fairness to Disney, the studio inherited Dark Phoenix, a movie that had suffered through an arduous journey to the screen. In retrospect, the bad buzz has been building for some time. In a signal of the potential trouble and lack of confidence in the movie, originating studio Fox moved the release date several times, even though filming was completed two years ago.
Executives at the Mouse House company certainly know a thing or two about bigbudget superhero tent poles, but Disney still has its work cut out acquainting itself with its recently added film franchises. Moreover, X-Men’s most successful character, Deadpool (as portrayed by Canadian Ryan Reynolds) isn’t the kind of family friendly fare Disney is used to churning out. Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger already promised Reynolds’ wildly popular hero will have many more lives under the Disney umbrella, but outside of the Merc with a Mouth, the studio will essentially be starting from scratch. When the studio adjusted its film slate post-merger, The New Mutants starring Maisie Williams was pushed back to 2020. Another X-Men title, Gambit with Channing Tatum, was removed from the schedule.
“It’s a really important franchise,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Comscore. “We’ve seen a lot of franchise fatigue lately, and this is no different. But giving up on a series because one movie underperforms is not the way to go, and not the route Disney will take.”
They should be in good hands under the leadership of Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. Over the past decade, Disney’s comic book empire has developed a reputation for churning out superhero fare that fans love. They also have a tendency to make a pretty penny at the box office. Though Dark Phoenix was plagued by harsh reviews, a number of X-Men entries have also enjoyed critical raves and even an Oscar nomination in the case of Logan.
Bad reviews in the superhero genre aren’t a factor that always translate into poor ticket sales. But in the case of Dark Phoenix, comic book buffs seemed equally disappointed.
When looking at the future of X-Men, it can’t hurt to take a page from Feige’s playbook and lean into the fandom roots.