Dark Phoenix Director Simon Kinberg Owns Up to X-Films Failure: “Thats On Me”
The X-Men film franchise isnt likely to fall under 20th Century Foxs banner any time soon, so theres..
The X-Men film franchise isnt likely to fall under 20th Century Foxs banner any time soon, so theres no use pretending Dark Phoenix lived up to its predecessors successes. Thats straight from the top, as even writer-director Simon Kinberg acknowledged in a recent interview that the film “didnt connect with audiences that didnt see it,” and “didnt connect enough with audiences that did see it.”
The candid comment emerged from KCRWs The Business radio broadcast, and followed word that Dark Phoenix had become the X-franchises lowest opening. The film earned only $33 million in its domestic debut, to which Kinberg acknowledged “It clearly is a movie that didn't connect with audiences that didn't see it, it didn't connect enough with audiences that did see it. So that's on me.”
Granted, Dark Phoenix had a laundry list of factors working against it. Not only was the film intended as a smaller-scale follow-up to Bryan Singers poorly-received X-Men: Apocalypse, but its original November 2018 release was pushed back to February 2019 and then June. The film endured significant re-shoots as well, including major changes to a third act that was allegedly seen as too similar to Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel (or Captain America: Civil War, depending who you talk to). Not to mention, Disneys acquisition of 20th Century Fox and the X-Men characters effectively telegraphed that this iteration of the franchise would not be revisited in future films.
Kinberg nonetheless “loved making the movie, and I loved the people I made the movie with,” and took solace from several Hollywood supporters. In particular, Kinberg recalled a conversation with Ridley Scott that hed enjoyed working on the lesser-received G.I. Jane, as “He said it was his favorite because it was just a Read More – Source
