2019 Box Office Busts

[Midvillian1322]

There is a huge difference between the Skrulls and Jean, though. Captain Marvel's marketing depicted the Skrulls as simply antagonist for Carol to fight and nothing more. Jean on the other hand was front and center of Dark Phoenix's marketing with the tagline being "every hero has a dark side" depicted as both the protagonist and antagonist. The selling point of Dark Phoenix is that the X-Men will face their greatest threat: their own. When that didn't happen and instead got generic aliens their were plenty of people that complained. Example: 3:54



Yeah, in the video they also complained about the movie for failing as a finale AND that the action is small scale for an event movie(it was intentionally made to be small scale).

Your talking about comic fans though not the general audience. They went to see an Xmen movie and they got an Xmen movie. If the movie had been marketed more accurate the shitty villains wouldnt have been any less shitty. Which is fine a good movie can overcome shitty generic villians. The movie just wasnt good. The trailers did nothing to make people wanna watch it and then horrible word of mouth drove it into the ground. People can blame Disney all they want but Fox shoulda made. a better movie. Xmen were sitting for 5years no matter what. Disney gets no upside to this movie tanking as bad as it did. Just hurts the bottom line.

Also all this rests on the General public giving two shits about Jean grey. She wasnt a well developed character prior to this movie. And Spending as much on this budget as they did and then saying they wanted the action to seem small in scale seems like nonsense. You wanna spend alot of money to make it look like you didnt spend the money. This movie looked like it coulda been made on a Deadpool budget(Actors Salarys probaly make that impossible but just the look of the movie).

Last four movies we got Logan and DoFP. So whatever I'll take it. Again DP is not awful. It has some stuff I like but much like Apocalypse I end up feeling Meh. Didnt need that movie but those actors definetly make it watchable.

[Divine Spark]

Your talking about comic fans though not the general audience. They went to see an Xmen movie and they got an Xmen movie. If the movie had been marketed more accurate the shitty villains wouldnt have been any less shitty. Which is fine a good movie can overcome shitty generic villians. The movie just wasnt good. The trailers did nothing to make people wanna watch it and then horrible word of mouth drove it into the ground. People can blame Disney all they want but Fox shoulda made. a better movie. Xmen were sitting for 5years no matter what. Disney gets no upside to this movie tanking as bad as it did. Just hurts the bottom line.

Comic fans have been saying for the past two years that it was too soon to have Jean become the Dark Phoenix and that they should make a movie about a her rise as Phoenix first(which this movie was ironically really about). Even John Byrne who helped made the original storyline didn’t like the idea that they were rushing into Dark Phoenix.

Roth Cornet from Screen Junkies who isn’t a X-Men comic fan complained about the movie not committing to Jean’s turn and not having her go all out in the Screen Junkie review. There were people who watched it because they were interested in the proposed premise not just because they wanted to watch a X-Men movie. After-all, it wasn’t marketed a typical X-Men film as they dropped “X-Men” from the title to give off the impression that it was a different movie according to Simon Kinberg.

Some people thought that Jean not being evil was a storytelling fail.

The murder she carries out is actually more accidental than anything, failing to really convince the audience of any real increasingly dangerous intentions, and from there the movie does the rote travel from A to B to C that you entirely expect, and it never bothers to raise the stakes or provide opportunity for emotional investment (she arguably doesn’t actually really do anything “evil” past the death in the second act).

I agree that the movie wasn’t good. I have mixed feelings on it myself, the second act is a like 10 minutes long. They really needed to fix that second act and the movie was too short for Jean’s journey to have the impact it should have.

Also all this rests on the General public giving two shits about Jean grey. She wasnt a well developed character prior to this movie.

I wouldn’t say that it rests on all on caring about Jean. The movie was as much about Xavier as it was about her to the point where some people argue that he was the protagonist. Like how First Class was both Xavier and Magneto’s movie. Xavier at this point is definitely a well developed character.

In fact, many people thought the emotional story between Jean and Xavier was interesting and had potential but got bogged down by the presence of the alien.

And Spending as much on this budget as they did and then saying they wanted the action to seem small in scale seems like nonsense. You wanna spend alot of money to make it look like you didnt spend the money. This movie looked like it coulda been made on a Deadpool budget(Actors Salarys probaly make that impossible but just the look of the movie).

Last four movies we got Logan and DoFP. So whatever I'll take it. Again DP is not awful. It has some stuff I like but much like Apocalypse I end up feeling Meh. Didnt need that movie but those actors definetly make it watchable.

A lot of the budget went into reshoots of the entire third act. But yeah, this was also marketed as an event movie and it wasn’t.

[stargazer01]

I didn't see Dark Phoenix so I can't judge, but the trailers did nothing for me, and I much prefer Famke Janssen in the role. Her relationship with Logan was intriguing. Audiences really wanted to see what happened to her story at the end of X2. That was a great movie. Proof is the third movie did very well at the BO for those times. I don't think general audiences were hungry or ready for prequels with a new cast honestly.

[Maestro 216]

Don't see a bigger flop than Phoenix sadly.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I didn't see Dark Phoenix so I can't judge, but the trailers did nothing for me, and I much prefer Famke Janssen in the role. Her relationship with Logan was intriguing. Audiences really wanted to see what happened to her story at the end of X2. That was a great movie. Proof is the third movie did very well at the BO for those times. I don't think general audiences were hungry or ready for prequels with a new cast honestly.

The prequels did have an audience and did pretty decent box office wise til this last one. This was a very sad end in a way to a long history in a way. X-Men really kick started a lot of the big super-hero team series. Its just Fox really didn't know about building a huge universe of films til it was too late . (Its wild had the 2015 Fantastic Four worked we could have possibly seen a Fantastic Four vs X-Men film)

[Killerbee911]

The prequels did have an audience and did pretty decent box office wise til this last one. This was a very sad end in a way to a long history in a way. X-Men really kick started a lot of the big super-hero team series. Its just Fox really didn't know about building a huge universe of films til it was too late . (Its wild had the 2015 Fantastic Four worked we could have possibly seen a Fantastic Four vs X-Men film)

The thing is Fox did know about building a huge universe they just made bad movies. X-men Origins Wolverine was first and was suppose to lead to a X-men Origins Magneto(They turned into X-men first class tho), and they seeded in Cyclops,Emma Frost, Gambit and Deadpool in Wolverine. We could be living in a world with more X-men stuff if well they just had made one good movie at the right time.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Moving on from Disney's silliness with Dark Phoenix and New Mutants right now (since its been discussed to death) last week I detailed that this was a pretty hard month thus far for a few films. In fact from a film that was supposed to be an Oscar type buzz film to a Vertigo comics adaption. These are your bombs thus far. And its shocking some have became busts within 2-3 weeks.




Total Box Office : $3.7+ million

Total Production Budget : $10 million

Based on a true story of Brian Banks ; a wrongfully convicted man accused of rape in early 2000's , this follows his path to appearing in the NFL as his dream. The movie starred Greg Kinnear and was in wide release for 1 week in 2,100+ theaters and come in 11th. With more films arriving it has dropped to 900+ theaters and seems a slow climb to getting past $4 million domestically. Also its not expected to get a very big international release either.

This film seems more towards trying to get a possible Oscar vibe given its low budget and subject of Banks .





Total Box Office : $10.3+ million

Total Production Budget : $38 million

This film Warner Bros/New Line is based off the Vertigo Comics series "The Kitchen" where 3 ladies of mobsters become bosses of an area. The film stars Melissa McCarthy , Elizabeth Moss and Tiffany Haddish. Why this film was made is a question mark as the original comic was one many never knew existed til it was pointed out. Also the film won't hit major markets (China , Japan) internationally so its box office won't be helped as the film in its 2nd week dropped out of top 10.

McCarthy has struggled a bit since taking on Ghostbusters in 2016. Of her last 4 films since 2018 ; only Life of the Party has been a decent hit film for her. Her co-stars Moss and Haddish don't carry the name value or box office that McCarthy does so this falls more on her the last few years.


There are 2-3 other films that could also likely be busts as well. Those will be updated in a few weeks once we see what they do.

[Immortal Weapon]

The Kitchen is a terrible movie from everything I've heard about it.

[jetengine]

Melissa Mcarthys problem is she's fairly one note and everyones seen her so often its lost its charm.

[Osiris-Rex]

We dont, because then Gone With the Wind is somehow the most successful movie of all time.

The novel was huge so it was one of the most eagerly anticipated movie of its time. The novel is second only in popularity to the Bible with 30 million copies sold. Plus it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, And the movie was huge too.
It won 10 Oscars and is regarded as the greatest film of all time. Accounting for tickets sold and the US population at the time, about half the country saw it. So yeah, Gone With the Wind was indeed the most successful movies of all time.

[Zero Hunter]

The novel was huge so it was one of the most eagerly anticipated movie of its time. The novel is second only in popularity to the Bible with 30 million copies sold. Plus it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, And the movie was huge too.
It won 10 Oscars and is regarded as the greatest film of all time. Accounting for tickets sold and the US population at the time, about half the country saw it. So yeah, Gone With the Wind was indeed the most successful movies of all time.

To be fair the population of the United States was only 132 million in 1940 though compared to 329 million today. That and the fact that movies were pretty much the only real form of entertainment in 1940 does add in to that total also.

[Kirby101]

The novel was huge so it was one of the most eagerly anticipated movie of its time. The novel is second only in popularity to the Bible with 30 million copies sold. Plus it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, And the movie was huge too.
It won 10 Oscars and is regarded as the one of greatest film of all time. Accounting for tickets sold and the US population at the time, about half the country saw it. So yeah, Gone With the Wind was indeed the most successful movies of all time.

Minor disagreement. It's on the list, but almost never considered THE greatest. It is also controversial in it's apologetics and portrayal for slavery in the South.

[Kirby101]

Melissa Mcarthys problem is she's fairly one note and everyones seen her so often its lost its charm.

She was just nominated for an Oscar. Hardly "one note".

[GOLGO 13]

She was just nominated for an Oscar. Hardly "one note".

It feels like all I see her as is playing a fat, screaming, angry, middle age Karen. I can't imagine going to any movie with her as the "star".

[Zero Hunter]

She was just nominated for an Oscar. Hardly "one note".

I think the problem is more she will do a really great job in a movie then turn around and do two or three really garbage movies so people forget her good performances.

Rebel Wilson on the other hand is totally one note and just plays the brash fat girl in every role she does.