Forbes are well known for their box office commentary and objective reporting of the facts when it comes to movie financials. Over the weekend the trade has taken a deep dive on Dark Phoenix and compared it to another huge box office superhero flop from 20th Century Fox, Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four.
Comparing the two Marvel-lite movies it seems that despite a higher worldwide gross Dark Phoenix may become the biggest loser in this battle of the flops.
Fantastic Four was released in 2015 and grossed a mere $56.1m domestically, against a worldwide gross of $167.9m. Compare that to Dark Phoenix which currently holds a domestic gross of $64.6m and a global tally of $245.7m and it seems we have a hands down winner with the latest X-Men movie.
But there’s more to the story, Fantastic Four was produced on a budget of around $120m. Due to the intense reshoots many report that the budget for Dark Phoenix swelled to an impressive $200m+. Both of these figures exclude costs for promoting the movies.
When all is said and done Fox could be set to lose around $100m on Dark Phoenix which grossed only $493k from 426 screens left in North America. Having fallen out of the top 10 after only three weeks it seems Dark Phoenix time as the domestic box office is running very short.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y882k4F9jgIn Dark Phoenix, the X-Men face their most formidable and powerful foe: one of their own, Jean Grey. During a rescue mission in space, Jean is nearly killed when she is hit by a mysterious cosmic force. Once she returns home, this force not only makes her infinitely more powerful, but far more unstable. Wrestling with this entity inside her, Jean unleashes her powers in ways she can neither comprehend nor contain. With Jean spiraling our of control, and hurting the ones she loves most, she begins to unravel the very fabric that holds the X-Men together. Now, with this family falling apart, they must find a way to unite – not only to save Jean’s soul, but to save our very planet from aliens who wish to weaponize this force and rule the galaxy.
Dark Phoenix is being directed by Simon Kinberg. James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender are confirmed to return to the roles of Charles Xavier, Mystique and Magneto respectively. Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp and Kodi Smit-McPhee will also return.
The film is due for release on June 7, 2019 in North America. In the UK the movie drops on June 5.
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