Tavern Talk: Video Review - X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX

After the barrage of the likes of Avengers, Pokémon, John Wick, and Aladdin the expected shortcomings of Godzilla and now both Dark Phoenix and The Secret Life of Pets 2 could have been somewhat gauged after Aladdin took off more than anyone ever expected. Beyond making things more than curious for as to how this will pan out for this weekend's completely up in the air Men in Black re-boot it should also offer the reassurance once again that nothing is guaranteed. This is especially true in regards to the number one movie at the box office this weekend for, despite it being the number one movie at the box office, The Secret Life of Pets 2 opened to less than half of the opening weekend of the original film's $104.3 million (a record opening for an original, animated feature). With $46.6 million from 4,561 locations (the second widest opening ever only to Avengers: Endgame), the film will seemingly have a difficult time at getting to the comparable final totals of $150 or so domestic given we're in the middle of the summer movie season and the juggernaut that will be Toy Story 4 opens in less than a week and a half. Saving Pets 2 is the fact it kept its budget low at $80 million and has already garnered $49 million internationally for a present worldwide cume of $101 million. Pets 2 won't be a loss for Illumination, but we certainly won't be seeing any more sequels in this franchise. We reviewed the latest (and last) X-Men film under the 20th Century Fox banner though, which was an even bigger disappointment this weekend opening to only $33 million. This number makes it the first film in the X-Men franchise to fail to deliver a $50+ million opening and is $30 million less than the $65.7 million opening for X-Men: Apocalypse three years ago (which was disappointing in and of itself). Dark Phoenix could be looking at a total domestic cume under $100 million which be another first for the X-Men franchise, especially considering the CinemaScore was a whole letter grade less than Apocalypse with the film facing tough competition in the upcoming weeks including the likes of MIB: International this Friday and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 2nd. Aladdin took third with $24.7 million, followed by Godzilla: King of the Monsters dropping a hard -67.5% for a $15.5 million second weekend. Rounding out the top five was the Elton John biopic, Rocketman, with a $13.8 million weekend giving it a domestic total of just over $50 million while adding another $13 million internationally for a total just over $51 million and a worldwide gross of over $101 million-not bad for $40 million production. As always, be sure to follow the official Initial Reaction YouTube channel as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where you can find a new review (or reviews) each week!



Read my full X-Men: Dark Phoenix review here.


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