CBR: "X-Men: First Class" Tops the Box Office

[CBR News]

"X-Men: First Class" took the number one spot at the box office, but its $56 million domestic gross is giving some in the industry pause. Did its lack of Wolverine keep it from hitting the $106 million height of "X-Men 3?"


Full article here.

[MatthewDiCarlo]

Wouldn't the combination of no major stars (I hardly think MacAvoy is major) and the fact that X-Men 3 was pretty much universally reviled by everyone who watched it be more of a cause than a lack of Wolverine?

[charlesjbaserap]

I don't get why so many people are wondering why it didn't do better in the box office (even though it was EXACTLY in line with what the STUDIO itself expected.

It had a virtually no name cast, with predominantly lesser known and identifiable characters and STILL made $56 million.

The first 3 movies had big names like Hallie Berry, Hugh Jackson, Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart and fan favorite mutants like Cyclops and Jean Grey and Storm and Wolverine, along with Magneto and Xavier.

How many times has AZAZEL appeared in the comics? One arc that is nearly universally reviled? How big a name is Darwin? He's barely there. Angel (the female)? Even less so. White Queen and Shaw are names some comic fans know, but the general public?

No one in the studio had expectations of numbers in line with the first 3 films.

So why do articles like these keep coming up as if they did?

[MarvelMaster616]

"X-Men: First Class" took the number one spot at the box office, but its $56 million domestic gross is giving some in the industry pause. Did its lack of Wolverine keep it from hitting the $106 million height of "X-Men 3?"


Full article here.

I thought I wouldn't be surprised by news like this, but I am. This movie got such great reviews and everyone I've heard from says it's great. Yet it doesn't have the same draw as the other movies that were so disgusting that Brett Ratner has become a curse word for all X-men fans? Why could that be?

Well the movie does exist in some very shady areas. For one, the continuity of this movie flies directly in the face of X3 and Wolverine Origins. Certain scenes simply can't be reconciled with these movies. Second, it doesn't just have top actors. It doesn't have well known characters. Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Jean Grey, and Iceman are all well-known X-men. Xavier and Magneto are good, but they alone can't carry the movie based on name recognition. I think Fox made a mistake by not clarifying if this was a reboot or a prequel. If it's a prequel, it's a very bad one because it completely contradicts events in the other movies. So for those who saw the other movies, this won't be lost on them. This and not having a well-known actor (Kevin Bacon aside) does hurt the film. Maybe if they got Natalie Portman to play Mystique it would have done better, but from the looks of it X-men First Class won't be able to deliver what past X-men movies did. And for that, I think it's sad and shows just how much this movie needs a full official reboot.

[Ratzinger]

I almost didn't see X-Men: First Class. It had nothing to do with the trailers, the cast or lack of interest on my part. It was simply that the last two films were poor. There will be a lot of people who have seen all the movies and remember the last few times they have seen something with "X-Men" in the title they were disappointed, and have forgotten how good the original X-Men was; making them sceptical of going to see another one. I think that explains why it has done relatively poorly at the box office thus far. I say poorly and yet it is still number 1!

For what its worth, I saw it this morning (UK time) and loved it. It really was a surprise for me as I went in with low expectations. I'll put it out there that this is the best of all the X-Men movies so far - it really is that good! I know some will be put off by the lack of Wolverine, but to be honest I found it a relief - I was a bit bored of the "Ugh yeh, I'm so cynical about everything, and I'm a bit rough and violent and drunk all the time!"

[ryan_filler]

Everyone keeps saying its really out of continuity with X3 and Wolverine, but other than using Emma Frost in this one, what does it do that's so out of whack? The only thing that I even noticed continuity wise was Xavier knowing where Magneto got his helmet from since he seems to be surprised to see it in X1.

Is 56 million in one weekend bad? I feel like Hollywood needs to stop expecting each new movie to top the last movie and just accept when a movie does good. As nice as it would be, every new movie doesn't need to be the new greatest thing on Earth. I hope if they decided to go with sequels to this they don't feel the need to shoehorn Wolverine in to make money, and I also hope they don't feel the need to totally reboot unless its like 10 years down the road. Calling "do over" a year later because your first movie didn't do as well as you though is a really lame move.

[jddoyle]

I do not think it was the cast that did not bring the numbers. I think each cast member have their own cliques, and random fans that would go see the movie only because of them. Like the guy that played Beast, major fan following from "Skins"; one girl I talked to never saw an X-film but saw this one just because he was in it.

I think it comes down to the marketing of this film. I only saw the trailer on tv once. I did not see even see it on ESPN. Also, the first round of marketing looked terrible, the uniforms, the makeup and everything kinda looked cheap. When I first saw pictures, I thought "man this is going to suck, but I still wo buddy excited". I believe many people had similar thoughts. It put negative seeds in fan's head. If fans think the film is not going to be good, then regular people will not even want to see it.

Also, I did not go see Batman Begins, because I did not even know it was out, due the same poor marketing. I do not know how it did in its opening weekend, but I can not imagine it did spectacular.

I did go see this great X-movie, and I am planning to see it at least 2 more times.

[kalorama]

You must not watch much TV.

[grphxkindaguy]

To the author of the article, for those of us who haven't seen it yet, thanks for spoiling the surprise of a Wolverine cameo.

[ryan_filler]

I think it comes down to the marketing of this film.

Yeah, this is a good point. The marketing was terrible, right down to the awful posters they had out. When I first heard about the film and saw the posters and images they were putting out, I had no intention of seeing this at all. The only reason I convinced myself to see it on opening night was because all the positive buzz it was getting on the internet from fans, and that's not a place most movie-goers end up right before they decide what movie they're going out to see that night.

[hysang]

Honestly, the reason I didn't go to see it was because of X3 and Wolverine.

I got burned by the last two movies, so no positive reviews could possibly have gotten me into the theatre.

[phogoodness]

Frankly I thought the lower opening gross had to more to do with how terrible X3 and Wolverine were. Hopefully X-Men First Class can begin to rebuild the franchise after those previous disasters. It should have longer legs at the box office with its good reviews.

I liked the film. It was smarter and more stylish than the previous X-Men and X-2 films. The characters were also written with more depth. Certain plot aspects that deviated from the comics also worked well in the film context, such as Mystique being a 'childhood friend' to Xavier and tying Magneto's origin story with Sebastian Shaw. Despite these positives, I still felt there was something lacking in the film. It didn't elicit the same sense of excitement felt when Stryker's forces assaulted the mansion in X-2 or the humorous moments in Wolverine's rivalry with Cyclops. X-Men First Class has been compared to the 60's James Bond with Sean Connery, but it is nowhere as fun or interesting as Dr. No or Goldfinger. Matthew Vaughn did a good job with the script he had, but this is still one of the weaker entries on his resume, as Kick-Ass, Stardust, and Layer Cake are modern classics.

I would rank this on the same level as X-2, just ahead ahead of X-Men, and leagues ahead of X-3 and Wolverine. Considering the state of the franchise, this is a good thing.

[steve2275]

You must not watch much TV.

or have farmers insurance

[hysang]

I guess I had hoped if they were going to go back to the 1960s that they would use the original team.

[dumbstruck]

Everyone keeps saying its really out of continuity with X3 and Wolverine, but other than using Emma Frost in this one, what does it do that's so out of whack? The only thing that I even noticed continuity wise was Xavier knowing where Magneto got his helmet from since he seems to be surprised to see it in X1.

It's not just X-Men 3 and Wolverine. Spoilers. Swipe to read.

1. Magneto's helmet. Charles himself says in the first X-Men Magneto has recently found a way to block his thoughts, referring to the helmet, which Magneto points to later in the film when Charles attempts to read his mind. 40 years earlier is not recent.

2. Not specifically a continuity gaff, but knowing each other for a matter of a couple weeks does not seem likely to engender the longtime friendship Charles and Eric are supposed to have. Seems highly unlikely. What does fly in the face of continuity with regards to their friendship is the fact in X-3, Charles and Eric were shown together recruiting Jean Grey.

3. In X-1, Charles specifically states he and Magneto built Cerebro together. This did not happen in FC, and given their split at the end, will never happen.

4. Moira McTaggert. Shown to be in her 40's (?) in X-3. In FC, she's in her 20's. That would make her something like pushing 70 by X-3.

5. Wolverine's cameo (while funny), also contradicts continuity established in X-1. Charles and Eric approaching him in FC makes it all the more strange neither one recognizes him in X-1. Yes, it's 40 years later, but I find it unlikely that at least Charles wouldn't recognize him as someone he approached when first recruiting.

It's for these reasons I'm forced to look at this film as a reboot. Individually, none of the continuity problems can't be overlooked. But together, it just amounts to more than can be explained as a continuity gaff.