Days of Future Past The Official X-Men: First Class Box Office Discussion Thread!

[kedrell]

Most X-Men films do a little less OS than domestic, with the exception of XO:W.

 

[cheungcheung]

Too bad it isn't doing that great... It deserves to do better at the box office. It is fine as a standalone prequel though too...

 

[chaseter]

This will get a sequel.

1) Fox isn't going to give up the X-Men
2) A sequel to this would cost less than X4
3) This will make a profit in theaters
4) DVD sales will be good

 

[DarkKnight88]

Seeing XM:FC, imagine what Vaughn could have done with X3 if they would have given him time and freedom (and his own screenwriters). ARGHHHHH!

Well freedom maybe but he actually had LESS time on this film than he was originally going to have on X3.

 

[SuperSoldier985]

I hope FOX now realizes the damage that putting out crap movies does to a franchise. They rushed to make X3 and in effect basically knee-capped one of their biggest franchises. So eager to make a quick buck!

Enough of this "rush" BS. That movie had so many other things against it beside what's just a typically firm production schedule.

 

[PWN3R]

I've never been more interested in a film's B.O. results than with First Class. Why is it doing so poorly?

 

[ALP]

This will get a sequel.

1) Fox isn't going to give up the X-Men
2) A sequel to this would cost less than X4
3) This will make a profit in theaters
4) DVD sales will be good

This reasoning is not as mandatory as you would think.

Sure it would cost less...but it would also make less. I say this as someone who would prefer a sequel to First Class. For the general audience, Jackman's Wolverine is what sells. That's why he's not only got his own movie but a planned sequel as well. That also strikes out your first point. Wolverine 2 is being made so an immediate sequel to this is not necessary to retain the rights.

 

[Deaths Head II]

I knew for a while this would have disappointing box office. The fifth film in a series, following two disappointments, not clear about it's status as a reboot or prequel, lacking most of the most recognizable characters... yeah. Fox changed directions on this series so many times so we have no idea if a First Class sequel is guaranteed. This may just be considered a "look back" instead of the start of a trilogy and the series could move on to either X4 or more Wolverine films.

 

[X-Maniac]

I've never been more interested in a film's B.O. results than with First Class. Why is it doing so poorly?

I think it's too early to say 'poorly'.

But factors that may influence include: Lack of IMAX, lack of 3D, the weekend after Memorial Day weekend, recession making people pick and choose, and a crowded year with Hangover and Pirates still playing and many more films coming.

 

[Mysteryman]

This is a Great time to be a fan of comic books and Superhero Movies.
Dont worry about sequels, just enjoy what you have now.
Nothing else is guranteed for ANY franchise.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I hope this movie can reach $150m domestic, but I'm not sure if it can. I loved it and I'm sure it's getting pretty strong word of mouth. But X2 also had really strong word of mouth and still had a crappy 2.5 multiplier. Even the original X-Men had a multiplier below 3 despite the fact that it came out 11 years ago when frontloadedness wasn't anywhere near as bad as it is today. This one will need around a 2.7 multiplier to get to $150m. I'm hoping it can pull this off.

 

[the a1ant]

I think it's too early to say 'poorly'.

But factors that may influence include: Lack of IMAX, lack of 3D, the weekend after Memorial Day weekend, recession making people pick and choose, and a crowded year with Hangover and Pirates still playing and many more films coming.

This.

And next week is Super 8, the Green Lantern, Transformers, etc...it's a blood bath out there. I think it will have some legs though, and I'm sure video sales will be huge.

 

[chaseter]

This reasoning is not as mandatory as you would think.

Sure it would cost less...but it would also make less. I say this as someone who would prefer a sequel to First Class. For the general audience, Jackman's Wolverine is what sells. That's why he's not only got his own movie but a planned sequel as well. That also strikes out your first point. Wolverine 2 is being made so an immediate sequel to this is not necessary to retain the rights.

If Jackman's Wolverine sells a film then why did his solo film only make 170 domestic?

So no...that doesn't strike out anything.

The Wolverine, not Wolverine 2, is being made because Wolverine still made money and The Wolverine will make money but it's budget will be scaled back.

This movie isn't doing gangbuster because the audience remembers the suck that was Wolverine and X3. Fox has to rebuild the fans trust and this does that. The sequel to this movie will do better and they know that.

 

[ALP]

If Jackman's Wolverine sells a film then why did his solo film only make 170 domestic?

So no...that doesn't strike out anything.

The Wolverine, not Wolverine 2, is being made because Wolverine still made money and The Wolverine will make money but it's budget will be scaled back.

This movie isn't doing gangbuster because the audience remembers the suck that was Wolverine and X3. Fox has to build the fans trust back and this does that. The sequel to this movie will do better and they know that.

Uh, yes. It does. Another Wolverine is being made so a sequel to First Class is not necessary right now for Fox to retain the rights. That's not an opinion, it's a fact as clear as day.

I suppose Wolverine didn't do as well as expected because it wasn't a good film. But this movie isn't going to do much better than Wolverine did(and it is a good film). Wolverine had a far bigger opening weekend than this film will have. Why? Because that character alone drew people in opening week.

 

[chaseter]

No it doesn't. They aren't going to have Wolverine come out in 3 years and then the sequel to First Class come out 3 years after that.

That would be dumb. They wanted to do what Marvel was doing and have a movie out every year. They wanted a Magneto movie, this movie, another Wolverine movie, Deadpool, X4...and they will probably still do all of those. We will probably see an X-Men movie every 2 years or so for a few films. They will make a sequel to this and I would bet on it.

 

[ALP]

No it doesn't. They aren't going to have Wolverine come out in 3 years and then the sequel to First Class come out 3 years after that.

That would be dumb. They wanted to do what Marvel was doing and have a movie out every year. They wanted a Magneto movie, this movie, another Wolverine movie, Deadpool, X4...and they will probably still do all of those. We will probably see an X-Men movie every 2 years or so for a few films. They will make a sequel to this and I would bet on it.

Hmm, this is really possible yeah. I'm not sure if it's the smartest thing to do in the long run. I imagine it will eventually lead to fatigue for a while... if it hasn't kicked in already. Like I said, Wolverine did very mediocre numbers while opening to $85 Million. This movie is barely going to open to $60M.

 

[Nightmare]

I would love a sequel to this. I kinda like that Fox has to do a movie every couple of years. But I hate how they rush to put them out.

 

[chaseter]

I don't think Fox will give up the X-Men for a loooong time.

 

[ClarkLuther55]

I wouldn't worry about the box office too much. Wolverine may have opened bigger, but guess what? Wolverine TANKED HARD in its second weekend with a 69% drop. 47% of Wolverine's box office came in its opening weekend. The average movie makes about 25% of its total domestic box office in its opening weekend.

Even assuming that First Class makes a subpar 30% of its total in its opening weekend, an estimated $60 million opening is nothing to sneeze at. That's about $200 million when all is said and done. Which is about as much as what Batman Begins made. Think long term. Resurrecting a brand for bigger future sequels that people will want to see is more important than merely starting big.

For a movie that was trying to revitalize a damaged brand, and which came in without a lot of hype, these are solid numbers, IMO. And I suspect that First Class will have decent legs, given its great reviews and positive word of mouth.

 

[Marvel]

The fifth film in a series, following two disappointments

You do realize that it's only certain sniveling fanboys that consider the following two disappointments right? First Class lagging seems to confirm an "Underworld" movie franchise effect. Fans of the previous four films saw an "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" type movie even though they couldn't be more wrong. Pure fans have gotten a good opening weekend but not great because general fans don't want to see characters they love replaced or omitted.

I hope word of mouth changes their mind.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I think it has more to do with the fact that the last two X-Men movies were pretty terrible. I'd say THAT is hurting this film way more than lack of IMAX, 3D or a flashy gimmick.

 

[BMM]

That and the lack of familiar faces. They're almost having to reintroduce the X-Men all over again.

 

[CB Fan]

I think one reason that this film is opening poorly is the lack of popular mutants, if this film had Cyclops, Jean, Storm, Beast, and another mutant it probably would have done better. I also think that this actually might push fox to round up the old gang for an X4 as they might find continuing in the prequel to be too risky and if they do continue they might push for the film to include Cyclops, Storm, and Jean. And if the Wolverine doesn't hold up I can see them trying to reboot or even selling to Marvel while the franchise is still worth a little bit of money. As far as legs on this thing goes its gonna be hard to stay up with all the movies coming out.

 

[ALP]

That and the lack of familiar faces. They're almost having to reintroduce the X-Men all over again.

That didn't stop Phantom Menace from making about a billion dollars

 

[Chewy]

That didn't stop Phantom Menace from making about a billion dollars

The Phantom Menace was basically the most anticipated film of all time.