The popularity of Fox’s ‘X-Men’ series was less about the IP than about the marquee characters (like Wolverine and Storm) from the animated show and video games taking center stage.
The popularity of Fox’s X-Men series was less about the IP than about the marquee characters from the animated show and video games taking center stage. You can partially blame the $7 million domestic debut of The New Mutants on coronavirus-related challenges. The film is playing in 62% of America (along with Canada) with theaters in states like New York and California still closed. But even if the film had opened at peak capacity as scheduled in April 13, 2018, we wouldn’t be talking anything above a $25 million debut for the poorly-reviewed spin-off. Lacking big stars (in terms of “butts in seats”) and marquee characters, The New Mutants was a YA-tinged horror melodrama that just happened to take place in the same continuity as Fox’s X-Men movies. As the last of the franchise, its relative whimper is a reminder that the key to X-Men’s commercial success was rooted in Hugh Jackman’s turn as Wolverine and the specific presence of specific marquee X-Men which appealed to multiple generations of fandom. The first teaser for Bryan Singer’s X-Men, featuring seemingly generic fantasy footage, very little in the way of character-specific action and a bland techno tune, was not the first impression that fans were hoping for. But the second trailer, released months later, sealed the deal. Not only was it more sweeping in scope and seemingly larger in scale (complete with claws, telepathy, laser-eye blasts, magnetism and shape-shifting), but it was rooted in essentially a character roll-call. The preview highlighted six heroes (“Trust A Few”) and four villains (“Fear The Rest”) showing off their specific powers followed by the four baddies doing their thing. It wasn’t just a theoretical X-Men movie, it was a big-budget sci-fi actioner featuring all of your favorite X-Men (Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, Jean Grey, Xavier, Magneto, Sabretooth, Mystique and Toad) from the comics, the 1990’s animated series and/or the Konomi arcade game. The likes of Gambit, Pyro, Ice Man and Colossus would be left waiting for sequels, but the character line up of heroes and villains included almost every major X-Men character who would appeal to fans, no matter where those fans first discovered the respective IP. Arriving seven years after the premiere of the Fox animated series, which itself introduced countless young kids to the comic book mythology (and respective marquee characters), the first X-Men was conveniently timed to cash in on both genuine anticipation and nostalgia for the show as well as the various early-1990’s video games. The kids who grew up with the X-Men adaptations were now teens or young adults. And since the Singer-directed drama, which cost just $75 million (cheap even for 2000), won strong reviews for its balance of character, topicality and spectacle, it was primed to make history. Cue a $54 million opening weekend, the fifth-biggest ever at the time and the biggest Fri-Sun debut for a non-sequel until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ($90 million in 2001) and Spider-Man ($114 million in 2002). The film was a little frontloaded, but $157 million domestic and $299 million worldwide on a $75 million budget was still a big win for Fox and friends. It was also joined Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($200 million in 1990) as a rare post-Batman book smash which hit pay dirt specifically because of the characters/comics being adapted. And while Fox’s X-Men franchise wasn’t part of the (then-nonexistent) Marvel Cinematic Universe, its success was rooted in a similar ideology. Audiences didn’t show up because they liked superheroes, or even because the liked the idea of X-Men. They showed up for the specific cinematic incarnations of these specific characters. When X2: X-Men United opened in May of 2003 with $85 million (the fourth-biggest Fri-Sun ever at the time), it was a clear example of audiences showing up specifically because they liked the first X-Men and wanted to see this cast (Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, etc.) playing these specific characters. Fans liked these specific cinematic incarnations while newbies just liked them as a “new to me” cinematic fantasy narrative. X2: X-Men United would earn $215 million domestic and $407 million worldwide on a $110 million budget. X-Men: The Last Stand would open three years later with a boffo $102 million Fri-Sun (the fourth-biggest at the time) amid a $122 million Fri-Mon Memorial Day weekend launch. It was divisive among the fans and quite frontloaded, earning $235 million domestic. But it earned $457 million worldwide, more worldwide than any non-Spider-Man comic book movie ever. That, in a film featuring major deaths and core characters losing their powers, would have been the end in a normal world where franchises run for a few movies and then step aside for the next big thing.
