The signs weren’t terribly promising beforehand and, sure enough, Dark Phoenix failed to close out Fox’s X-Men franchise on a high. Critics – and fans – hated it and its box office gross was terribly underwhelming, with the film earning the lowest-opening weekend of any X-movie ever. In fact, it’s looking pretty likely that Dark Phoenix will be the biggest flop of the entire franchise and an even bigger dud than Fantastic Four, believe it or not.
So, it’s not too surprising to hear that after being dropped by countless different cinemas over the past few weeks, it’s now only showing in just 200 theaters. Considering it’s only about six weeks into its run, that’s not good news for Fox and means that Dark Phoenix‘s time on the big screen is nearing its end. And that its box office gross is unlikely to climb much higher than where it is now. Which, for those keeping track, is $64.8 million domestically and $249.4 million worldwide. Ouch!
Where it’ll ultimately end off its run, we won’t know for a while yet, but it’s definitely been a rough couple of weeks for Dark Phoenix and with the film only remaining in 200 theaters, it doesn’t look like things will be picking up at all. As we said above, while it may pull in a bit more at the box office, its current total is unlikely to change very much before it’s gone from cinemas completely.
Truth be told, the pic probably didn’t deserve to bomb as hard as it did, but it’s also tough to deny that the series is in need of a reboot, and desperately. And though it’ll be getting just that thanks to Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel Studios, it’s still disappointing that X-Men: Dark Phoenix couldn’t end things on a high.