" They clearly didn’t do enough as it brought in the worst opening in franchise history just over $30 million”
Summer is in full swing which means we will get plenty of summer blockbusters including the latest installments in many long running franchises. Avengers: Endgame completely shattered the box office and is already one of the highest grossing movies of all-time. I also think it’s going to end up being my favorite movie of 2019 (some films still left to come out that might give it a run) and it was a beautiful ending to the Infinity Saga.
The MCU is one of the few franchises that don’t seem to be suffering from box office fatigue. Several other franchises have debuted new installments this summer and they have been very lackluster. Godzilla: King of the Monsters was the latest installment of Warner Bros. “Monster Verse.” This franchise is giving us origin stories for the legendary monsters and is setting up the inevitable showdown between Godzilla and King Kong in 2020. The latest film did deliver the weakest opening of the series around $48 million. I have yet to see this film as the 2014 Godzilla was ok. It has nothing on the all-time classic that is 1998 Godzilla, which is easily the best Godzilla movie ever. (I’M KIDDING). Place your bets now….Godzilla or King Kong?
The X-Men franchise has been going strong for almost 20 years. It has delivered some amazing films (Logan, Days of Future Past, X2, First Class, Deadpool) and some disappointing films (The Last Stand, Apocalypse, Origins: Wolverine). The conclusion of Fox’s X-Men franchise is Dark Phoenix. Whew. Where to begin with this one. This is the second attempt at the Dark Phoenix/Jean Gray story and the second attempt might be worse than the first. The X-Men films went through a soft reboot back in 2011 with First Class and it was moving strong and limps to an ending with Dark Phoenix. The film has been bashed since the beginning and had to go through several reshoots because test screenings had miserable reviews. They clearly didn’t do enough as it brought in the worst opening in franchise history just over $30 million. It is sitting at a dismal 23% on Rotten Tomatoes. I know I will end up seeing it but I just have a bad feeling it’s going to suck. There is hope for the future for the X-Men since Disney purchased Fox so we can be excited for the potential of the X-Men joining the MCU.
My final stop on this exhausting tour takes to Men in Black: International. The first Men in Black is a classic. Men in Black II was eh and Men in Black 3 was ok, better than two but nowhere close to the first one. I’ll be honest…I like Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson so I was intrigued with them starring in the new Men in Black. It’s weird to not see Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones but I can deal. It would appear that the franchise is running out of steam after having a poor opening of only $29 million. It is slightly better than Dark Phoenix on Rotten Tomatoes sitting at 25%. I don’t think this film will cross $100 million domestically and this could be lights out for the Men in Black franchise. Losing Will Smith might kill another franchise. Look at Independence Day. The first one one was a great summer blockbuster. The sequel should have never been made. One of the few films I debated leaving during the movie IT WAS THAT BAD.
Don’t let the current disappointing films of June get you down. July is going to be an amazing month at the box office. We get Spider-Man: Far From Home, the first installment of the MCU post Infinity Saga. We get the live action version of The Lion King (my inner child is screaming while typing that) and we get the return of the best actor of our time. Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The ninth film by Quentin Tarantino comes out on July 26. They last teamed up for Django Unchained which was a great film (which finished 2nd in our Leo Bracket). I will definitely be going to see that opening night.
Who is coming with???
Which July movie are you most looking forward to?
Spider-Man: Far From Home
The Lion King
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
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