Can the X-Men: Dark Phoenix home release make back some money?
The Dark Phoenix home release is finally here. X-Men’s last entry was a box-office flop, but can this release help make up any money though?
X-Men’s Dark Phoenix home release is finally here. Fox’s last entry in the X-Men series is almost tantamount to Warner Bros.’ handling of Justice League. Both films have formidable production histories and flopped at the box office. Hence, one can only hope that the Dark Phoenix home release can help make back some money.
First off we must know the summary of Dark Phoenix. Its production budget totalled roughly $350 million. Part of this figure does include re-shoots, marketing and distribution. In the end, Jean Grey only brought a total worldwide gross of over $252 million – only 26% of this figure is domestic. Let me do the math for you, Dark Phoenix grossed only $65.8 million in the United States. Our final Fox X-Men film failed to even crack $100 million stateside. Maybe we ought to re-title this last entry as The Mutant Massacre.
After more accounting, this gives us a loss of $98 million! But can the Dark Phoenix home release make close to $100 million?
More from Movies
- James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy casts more major DC characters
- New Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer pushes Arthur to his limits
- 7 actors who could replace Ezra Miller as The Flash in the DC Universe
- Masters of the Universe reboot’s new domain could be at Amazon’s Prime Video Streamer
- James Gunn gives interesting update of Superman and Supergirl movies at DC Studios
Looking at the history of the X-Men franchise on DVD and Blu-ray, things look grim. X-Men First Class made over $66 million. X-Men: Days of Future Past got an up-tick with over $77 million. Numbers begin dipping with X-Men: Apocalypse, as it raked in only $33 million.
We can call X-Men: Apocalypse a modest success at best, both critically and financially. We all know the Phoenix is neither of these things, even if you like the film. Hence, this series averages roughly $58 million. The last time this franchise was doing huge home release numbers was with X-Men: The Last Stand. Now DVD sales are dropping, prices are dropping and some people wait to stream for free.
One way to think of this is the Dark Phoenix home release needs to sell roughly 4 million Blu-rays to make up for this loss. Sorry, all the last X-Men films fall short of that, unless you add them all up. And while special features could give potential buyers an incentive to buy it, the Dark Phoenix features don’t seem all that special.
Moreover, though it has no real competition within the rest of September, we are bordering Halloween season – and with the new Child’s Play film coming out soon, some may wait for that instead. Come early October and we have Spider-Man: Far From Home on Blu-ray and DVD. No doubt Disney put some space between the two, as to not cannibalize sales of the Dark Phoenix home release.
Who knows, maybe re-branding it X-Men: Dark Phoenix for home release will hook in some. Black Friday and holiday season shopping might stimulate things as well. Then you always have your collectors who just have to have them all. Maybe some fans can hope for that rumored extended cut can drop and pick up the slack. All looks doubtful though I am afraid.
dark. Next. Wolverine and the 25 greatest X-Men characters of all-time
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is out now. Will you be purchasing a copy? What are your thoughts on the film? Let us know in the comments below!