'X-Men: Dark Phoenix' Is Reportedly Losing Over 1,600 Theaters in Its Third Week

'X-Men: Dark Phoenix' received a muted reaction from both critics and audiences when it arrived in theaters earlier this month.

Sophie Turner
Getty

Image via Getty/Rich Fury

Sophie Turner

X-Men: Dark Phoenix received a muted reaction from both critics and audiences when it arrived in theaters earlier this month, and now Exhibitor Relations Co. reports that the film will be leaving 1,667 theaters in its third week of release. Dark Phoenix, which marks the end of Fox's X-Men film series ahead of its inevitable incorporation into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has grossed $208 million worldwide on a $200 million production budget.

Dark Phoenix opened to a disappointing $33 million at the U.S. box office, performing worse than the franchise-launching entry that released in 2000. The second-week numbers for the seventh and last installment in the core X-Men film franchise indicated that it was underperforming, with the box office numbers dropping an astonishing 83% to just $2.348 million. With reports signaling a loss of 1,667 theaters, the superhero release remains dead in the water.

Taking into account the $200 million production budget does not include marketing costs, thus Dark Phoenix will reportedly mark a loss for Fox and Disney. When the film debuted, Deadline reported that it was on track to lose between $100-120 million.

Cinema Blend reported that long-time X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner hasn't even seen the movie yet. "I have to be honest with you, I have not seen it yet. I'm sure I will be, but I have not seen it," she said. However, it is worth noting that Shuler Donner has been busy working on the third and final season of Legion, the dark X-Men spin-off series on FX.

Simon Kinberg, the director of Dark Phoenix, has already taken the blame for its box office failure. "I'm here and I’m saying when a movie doesn’t work, put it on me," Kinberg told KCRW podcast The Business. "I'm the writer/director of the movie, the movie didn’t connect with audiences, that's on me."

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