Dark Phoenix X-Men: Dark Phoenix News and Speculation Thread - - - - - - Part 15

[terry78]

X-Men and FF really should be on par with Spider-Man and what not in regards to event franchises but when you sow bad blood it stays.

 

[Erik Lensherr]

 

[sleekstereo]

"Disney's release of Fox's Dark Phoenix is also missing expectations, delivering an estimated $14 million on Friday, heading toward a three-day gross around $35 million. The film, which was the worst reviewed of the X-Men franchise, received a "B-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences."


The bad news keeps coming! A part of me wishes Disney wasn't involved. I'd LOVE to see Kinberg and Fox try to spin this.

Feige and the MCU have a lot of rebuilding to do that's for sure. At least Amazing Spiderman 2 made money and kept the brand alive.

X-MEN is on life support right now. And it's suppose to be Marvel's A team.

 

[Sage2016]

If I blinked I would've missed his screen time as Match.

 

[EnDz0n3]

I blinked and I totally missed him. Where was he?

 

[Hand Banana]

I guess this was meant to be a trilogy.

 

[X-Maniac]

There's not really any place in this movie where Simon Kinberg shows that he doesn't understand the characters, though, and plenty where he shows that he does understand the dynamics.

I agree that the studio is leveraging certain actors again, and one in particular is obvious, but to say that there's no focus on the X-Men as a team would be incorrect. There isn't the focus on all of the specific relationships and types of development that fans wanted to see or that would have made up for the slights of past films, I.E.

Spoiler

(giving Storm more development and her due, developing Scott into a leader)

, but the concept of the X-Men themselves and the school that created them is something the movie gets right, and that is core to DARK PHOENIX in a way it has perhaps not been in past films. The movie is more about the group and what they mean to each other than most of the X-Men movies have been.

Honestly, the pacing was kind of a weird thing for me, and I definitely think it needed to be longer, but I'm curious how it feels on a second viewing. I thought the film felt rushed in places (a key character's final scene, and very specific story beats in Act I, II and III), but not overall. For the most part it flows pretty well given its runtime. And when it does rush, it then kind of slows down just enough for key moments to breathe. The climax feels like it arrives quickly, but once it gets there, it's a fairly well paced third act, I think. I don't love the pacing of the denoument.

It's all well and good to hate on Kinberg for not checking all the boxes effectively here, but what some seem to have wanted him to do here (with limited runtime, mind you) is the equivalent of someone telling the Russos not to focus on Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow and Hulk in favor of more underserved characters. That's just not the way any big budget studio franchise works, and it just wasn't going to happen here. And I do think a lot of that lies with the studio or the group of producers in charge of these movies, not just Simon Kinberg. There are going to be limitations to any big budget outing, and I think he did a fairly solid job given what he had to work with. Basically, it's kind of hard to buy that some of the more frustrating elements that have been somewhat "formula" for FOX regarding this franchise dating back to X-MEN can all be laid at only Simon Kinberg's feet this time around.

We could have seen Cyclops disagreeing with Mystique's leadership decisions. That ticks the boxes of conflict, takes hardly any screen time and serves the purpose of developing Cyclops towards his rightful place.

We could have seen Storm having a friendship with Jean (the two actresses lived with/near each other during production, which would have helped create a sisterly bond perfect for the film) and have a little more to say (as one goddess to another). No one would be wanting the approach taken for Storm in The Last Stand which was a little forced and overdone but Kinberg could have done something more.

You mentioned 'constraints' earlier. Those are clear for all to see in these films. Whoever is imposing them needs to be gone and have no further connection to the X-Men.

 

[Charzhin0]

Im going to see it again sometime next week but my ranking as if now is

1) Xmen DOFP - my number 1 cbm ever followed by The Avengers and Dark Knight Rises (a true epic end on a high note to the acclaimed Nolan-franchise)

2) X2
3) First Class
4) Deadpool 2
5) The Wolverine
6) Logan
7) X1

All the above are atleast 7.5/10; very good to excellent

8) Deadpool
9) Xmen 3
11/12) Dark Phoenix/Apocalypse
13) Origins

Dark Phoenix and Apocalypse both have unwelcomed amounts of bored Jlaw smeared all over the movie which really brings them down hard. Shes the biggest problem in these last 2 Xmen movies, if she wasnt in there for either film I would probably have both a lot higher

 

[carpenter82]

Im going to see it again sometime next week but my ranking as if now is

1) Xmen DOFP - my number 1 cbm ever followed by The Avengers and Dark Knight Rises (a true epic end on a high note to the acclaimed Nolan-franchise)

2) X2
3) First Class
4) Deadpool 2
5) The Wolverine
6) Logan
7) X1

All the above are atleast 7.5/10; very good to excellent

8) Deadpool
9) Xmen 3
11/12) Dark Phoenix/Apocalypse
13) Origins

Dark Phoenix and Apocalypse both have unwelcomed amounts of bored Jlaw smeared all over the movie which really brings them down hard. Shes the biggest problem in these last 2 Xmen movies, if she wasnt in there for either film I would probably have both a lot higher

Interesting. She didn't seem bored to me. I could kinda see that in Apocalypse, but not here. I thought she was pretty good in her final scene actually.

 

[Charzhin0]

We could have seen Storm having a friendship with Jean (the two actresses lived with/near each other during production, which would have helped create a sisterly bond perfect for the film) and have a little more to say (as one goddess to another). No one would be wanting the approach taken for Storm in The Last Stand which was a little forced and overdone but Kinberg could have done something more.

This is what i was expecting and shocked that it was no were in the movie. Think endzone is right; I can't remember if they even directly talk. Kinberg has said he knows what the fans want and he may frequent online word of mouth, so how he is completely oblivious to Storms disservice is very strange.

 

[Charzhin0]

Interesting. She didn't seem bored to me. I could kinda see that in Apocalypse, but not here. I thought she was pretty good in her final scene actually.

I will have to rewatch it to see but that was my first impression. Mistique is great in FC and DOFP. It actually looks like shes trying and varying up her range. In First Class she has a youthful exuberance about her. In DOFP she portrays the conflicted Raven very well.

Her role in apocalypse goes down a cliff. "Well we have our war plane, lets go to war". I cant believe Singer found that clip acceptable from a supposdly world class actress.

In dark phoenix i remember her being very focused in the space mission, but once they land back on earth she just regressed back to bored Mistque.

 

[Dark Raven]

The score in Dark Phoenix is amazing.

Well at least that's one score they can point to compared to the RT score.

 

[Sage2016]

I blinked and I totally missed him. Where was he?

He lit the bonfire at the mutant party. And that's all we saw of him lol.

 

[Hand Banana]

"Disney's release of Fox's Dark Phoenix is also missing expectations, delivering an estimated $14 million on Friday, heading toward a three-day gross around $35 million. The film, which was the worst reviewed of the X-Men franchise, received a "B-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences."


The bad news keeps coming! A part of me wishes Disney wasn't involved. I'd LOVE to see Kinberg and Fox try to spin this.

After seeing how SLOP2 is only doing a little bit better(16,000,000) despite having much better positive reviews I think it’s safe to say that it was always going to do around those numbers regardless of critical reception.

It was a mistake to place this around so much competition.

 

[carpenter82]

I will have to rewatch it to see but that was my first impression. Mistique is great in FC and DOFP. It actually looks like shes trying and varying up her range. In First Class she has a youthful exuberance about her. In DOFP she portrays the conflicted Raven very well.

Her role in apocalypse goes down a cliff. "Well we have our war plane, lets go to war". I cant believe Singer found that clip acceptable from a supposdly world class actress.

In dark phoenix i remember her being very focused in the space mission, but once they land back on earth she just regressed back to bored Mistque.

Well I do agree that DOFP was her best performance in the role.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Wasn't the excuse for the second delay from Feb to June a more propitious release date for China? Like everything else in the film, that strategy also crashed with a thud.

 

[Sage2016]

Yeah I read they wanted to heavily promote this film in China. I don't live there so I don't know if they did. I know in the UK it was on the side of a few buses and the commercials started like 2 weeks before it came out.

 

[JP]

I'm honestly sad. They did it. The really ran this series in the ground.

Poor, poor Dark Phoenix, flying in with the lowest opening for an X-Men movie ever with $33.9M after being the worst reviewed at 22% Rotten and the worst received with a B- CinemaScore (lowest ever for the franchise) and ComScore/Screen Engine PostTrak’s of 3 stars among general audiences, 69% positive and a low 49% definite recommend. Despite having better exits than Dark Phoenix with an 81% positive and A- CinemaScore, moviegoers weren’t amused with technically the last PG-13 X-Men movie, Apocalypse, and they showed that with their wallets: 4-day projections of $100M dropped to $79.8M during its opening, and stateside, the film is the second-lowest grossing X-Men movie at $155.4M, with First Class being the lowest at $146.4M.
‘The Secret Life Of Pets 2’ Beating ‘Dark Phoenix’ At Box Office – Deadline

 

[Flint Marko]

Green Lantern got a B- Cinemascore. Did Kinberg namedrop GL alongside TDK and Ragnarok as other CBM’s he was trying to emulate?

To those who have seen the movie: is it true that the Phoenix force is introduced right out of the blue in this movie as if it didn’t save the day in Apocalypse?

 

[Blade Hoarder]

"Please don't flop, please don't flop, please don't flop...."

Flops....

 

[Hand Banana]

To those who have seen the movie: is it true that the Phoenix force is introduced right out of the blue in this movie as if it didn’t save the day in Apocalypse?

A similar thing happened with Hope Summers in the comics. According to @icekid it was explained in the cut he saw.

Seems like it was originally supposed to be explored further.

 

[psylockolussus]

First thing that came to mind when I got out of my screening was the feeling that DOFP already feels like a lifetime ago. Remember how exciting things were in 2014? Such squandered potential in just five years.

The local cinema near my place here in Manila added two more screens today (it was just two screens last Wednesday; they are now showing it in four) and I see long lines at the ticketing booth. Though I have no idea of the general reception.

You must have went to a more crowded part of Manila. But I also live there (Makati) and the last film showing was 1/3 full. Compare that to my eXperience in Endgame where all 13 screens from 3 connected malls, were all sold out.

 

[By your Command]

You know the weird part is that Simon is a really powerful guy, and he is LOVED by everyone he meets: directors, writers, producers and actors, no one in Hollywood says a bad thing about the man. And Dark Phoenix is a movie that just needed a script doctor and another director to help him out on this giant venture, he could’ve a done the somewhat grounded intimate story he wanted, he just needed help. It’s ok to ask for help sometimes Simon, remember your emotions make you strong.

 

[Erik Lensherr]

wtf

 

[JP]

whoops