Ever since the start of the new millennium, there have been very few constants in pop culture other than X-Men. Music fads have come and gone. Popular film franchises have flamed out and been rebooted (e.g., we're already on our third Spider-Man). Television shows, both network and cable, are virtually unrecognizable from what they used to look like (unless they're on CBS). YouTube stars now outpace film and TV stars in the hearts and minds of modern kids. But the X-Men films have stuck with us, delivering new installments every 2-3 years. We haven't always liked these X-Men movies, but we know there's always a new one - hopefully a better one - just around the corner.
For example, everyone seems pretty down on Apocalypse right now, and understandably so. It's a perfectly diverting action movie, but it's also overstuffed and lacking in new ideas, which can be seen in some of the performances (Jennifer Lawrence, in particular, seems like she couldn't care less any more). As a result, while Apocalypse took the Memorial Day box office crown it did so in completely unremarkable fashion, coming in on the absolute low end of expectations with $65.7m for the traditional weekend, $79.8m for the 4-day holiday. Before the weekend, analysts had it finishing anywhere between $80m and $100m.
As per usual with just about any big budget film these days, the studio prefers to focus on the bigger picture. "We're very happy with this result as we introduce new characters in the X-Men universe," said Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson. "And for us to be at this number globally already ($265m after 10 days) means we're in good shape."
Yet here's the odd thing about the X-Men franchise from a box office standpoint: it doesn't seem to matter whether we like these movies or not. They all post acceptable opening weekends, sometimes even record-breaking opening weekends, but after that they disappear faster than Quicksilver listening to a period-specific pop song.
X-Men (2000)- RottenTomatoes: 86%
- Opening Weekend: $85m
- Records: Fourth-biggest Fri-Sun debut in history (behind Spider-Man and the first two Harry Potter films)
- Second-Weekend Drop: 53%
- Final Domestic Gross: $215m
- Position in the Year-End Top 20: #6
- Weekend-to-final multiplier: 2.5x
- Industry Average That Year: 4.34x
- RottenTomatoes: 58%
- Opening Weekend: $102m (Fri-Sun), $122m (Fri-Mon Memorial Day)
- Records: Second-biggest single day ($45m Friday) behind Revenge of the Sith's $50m debut, fifth biggest four-day total of all time
- Second-Weekend Drop: 66%
- Final Domestic Gross: $234m
- Position in the Year-End Top 20: #4
- Weekend-to-final multiplier: 2.3x
- Industry Average That Year: 4.24x
Look at those opening day/weekend records, though! People were clearly geared up for this movie. They wanted to love it, and tell their friends to go see it. This could have been the time when the franchise entered into mega-blockbuster territory. Instead, it was such a creative disappointment that there is now an entire sequel which explicitly erases this entire film from continuity. Perhaps all could have been forgiven if the next franchise installment hadn't been...
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)That's not to say First Class' quality went completely ignored. Word of mouth was strong enough to result in the franchise's second best multiplier to that point. Plus, considering the decade which had passed since the first X-Men many fans first came to the franchise through First Class.
But talk about deja vu. Despite its creative bonafides, the first X-Men still had to contend with a stigma, i.e., those who would say, "I don't care how good it is. I'm not seeing another superhero movie, not after Batman & Robin." It didn't find its widest audience until home video, which fed directly into the sequel. That's exactly what happened for First Class, but this time around the studio wasn't willing to do a straight sequel. It was time for an all-star team-up. Before we could get there, though, we had this curious little detour:
The Wolverine (2013)Moreover, by this point in film history all superhero movies were starting to become just as front-loaded as the X-Men movies always had been. Wolverine's 2.4x multiplier is right in line with 2013's other superhero efforts - Iron Man 3 (2.35x), Man of Steel (2.5x) and Thor: The Dark World (2.4x).
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)- RottenTomatoes: 83%
- Opening Weekend: $132m
- Records: Biggest All-Time Opening (R-Rated, President's Day, February, Winter)
- Second-Weekend Drop: 57%
- Final Domestic Gross: $362m
- Weekend-to-final multiplier: 2.74x
What have we learned? X-Men movies are as reliable as the sunset, in the sense that there's always another one on the way, but they consistently play to ever-faithful hardcore fans while only occasionally breaking through to wider audiences. However, being so front-loaded used to be seen as a bad thing; now it's the norm. Plus, the franchise is currently at the height of its international popularity. Apocalypse, for example, is shaping up to be yet another domestic under-performer/international over-performer.
The path forward might be through Legion, the Noah Hawley-produced X-Men show just ordered to series at FX, as well as through more Deadpool-inspired franchise entries. The age of Wolverine is nearing its end, and McAvoy, Lawrence, Fassbender and Nicholas Hoult won't come back unless they get seriously paid. Maybe it's finally time to move on from Magneto, Xavier and Mystique. There are other X-Men characters out there, you know.
Whatever happens, at least this will remain the same: Didn't like Apocalypse? Don't worry. There's another one on the way ( Wolverine 3 in March) and another one ( Deadpool 2) and probably more after that (The New Mutants, Gambit and X-Force).