Dark Phoenix always had an uphill climb ahead of it, from perceptions that it was both a do-over of X-Men: the Last Stand to its place as a lameduck movie in a dead franchise. It was far too much to overcome, and after 10 days of release only has $52M domestic and $204M worldwide. After a near-historic 72% drop in the second weekend (83% on Friday alone!), Dark Phoenix can’t be labeled anything other than a flop, even to the few of us who think it’s actually an okay movie.
Director Simon Kinberg, who made his debut behind the camera after being the franchise’s writer/producer for years, isn’t going to blame anybody other than himself for the disastrous response. He told The Business,”It clearly is a movie that didn’t connect with audiences that didn’t see it, it didn’t connect enough with audiences that did see it. So that’s on me.”
What Kinberg won’t do is allow this to affect the good memories he has of the production and the cast he was surrounded with. Kinberg has worked with many of them for years, having filled in for Bryan Singer when he was being all irresponsible and shit.
Kinberg adds, “I loved making the movie, and I loved the people I made the movie with…”I love these characters. I love these world. I’ll be super excited to see what Marvel does with them.”
It may be a few years before we see what Marvel Studios does with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, the latter another team Kinberg was very involved with. Suffice it to say I think his time with these characters is done.
