Opening Box Office Results Confirm What We Already Knew… Marvel’s Dark Phoenix is a Dumpster Fire.

With a lackluster $33 million debut, Dark Phoenix is the lowest opening film in the X-Men franchise… ever. Appropriate, since it’s also the most poorly received among both critics and fans. Squeaking out a paltry 22% positive on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of this post, estimates for the domestic take on the film are projected at less than $100 million–an absolute disaster when factoring in marketing costs and an equally lukewarm reception so far overseas. What is most likely the last film in the X-Men franchise, Dark Phoenix is currently on track to lose Fox and parent company Disney north of $120 million. Oof.

Serious question though… How do you fuck up what many fans consider to be the best female led Marvel hero arc ever… twice? In this case, the answer is pretty simple. You start with an ill-conceived script borne of the current political women’s empowerment climate, cast an actress that possesses neither the range nor the gravitas to carry the film as its lead, cram the extensive source material into a 90 minute film, push the release date back to June to re-shoot scenes after your test screenings utterly fail, and finally, throw in the towel, ready the finger pointing, and release your polished turd to the public.

To be clear, I’m not blaming the cast for the failings of the movie. Much of that has to fall on writer/director Simon Kinsburg and the bureaucrats at Fox (and maybe Jennifer Lawrence). Do we really need to hear disparaging remarks towards the long standing male protagonists like “Might wanna think about changing the name to X-Women?” Look, I’m not saying we shouldn’t have strong, badass, female action heroines, but lately the SJW-In-your-face-pandering has reached a degree that is, quite frankly, getting old. (I’m looking at you Captain Marvel).

The thing is, comic book and movie fans of both sexes love strong female leads. Ripley in Aliens, Selene in Underworld, etc… But the current trend towards Mary Sues is both patronizing and outside of the window for suspension of disbelief–a big fucking window when you are taking about fantasy flicks. Maybe if Hollywood would dial back the political motivation and concentrate on writing solid, believable characters we could all finally enjoy a break from real life by escaping to the movies again… Ah, who am I kidding.