Tuesday, June 7, 2011

10 Reasons Why X-Men First Class didn't Own the Box Office


So the news it out! XMFC didn't make the big bucks as expected. In fact it underperformed, taking only 56 million in the US box office.

But why did this better written Mutant Movie get okay turnout? Well, I have 10 reasons why:
  1. The mixing of past and present characters. When a franchise has 2 horrible films under its belt, the last thing you want to do is screw up the storyline. Well, adding mutants from 2001 (Angel), 1980 (Emma Frost) 1985 (Riptide) and 2008 (Darwin) didn't help. Knowing the X-Universe, there were tons of characters to choose from in that era, like: Mimic, Lucifer, Amelia Voght, Bolivar Trask... Hell, even Tessa/Sage. She was around back then.
  2. Changing the characters' backgrounds. Moira is Scottish not American and Banshee is Irish. That should have been fixed before the movie came out. Again, changing the X-History doesn't work.
  3. Calling it 'First Class' without the original 5 was not a good deal. Also using a mismatched group of mutants wasn't cute either.
  4. The Hellfire Club's plan was far-fetched and almost like a G.I. Joe/Cobra plotline.
  5. The marketing was broke. The first pic of them looked photo-shopped. Then the studio denied it, but later claimed it. Weeks later, more crappy ads came out, causing fans to make their own.
  6. Back to the mutants, the ones they choose to be in the first group were boring and didn't excite anyone.
  7. Trying to make this film for everybody. Some would say that fan-based film doesn't work. But if it's done well, it will sell (ex. Iron Man & Thor).
  8. The fans don't trust 20th Century Fox with any X-Men movies. Yes X3 and Wolverine made money, but it also burned bridges with the fan. Believe it or not, that sh*t comes back.
  9. Too many discrepancies from the other movies. The only true connection is Wolverine.
  10. Too Soon? Maybe they needed to wait until Marvel Studios took the property back or if they had a story people wanted to see. It seems that fans hate the thought of Fox/X-Men marriage and demand a public divorce.
I actually like the movie, but the I can see how the past has a direct effect of the future. Almost Days of Future Past like, right?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel it was a horrible reminder of just how cruel and evil we humans can be.If America could it would get rid of history because parents today don't know how to communicate with their children and to explain the killing of millions is just too much.
I too liked the movie. When watching movies about the X-men you have to think ,this is just another alternate universe.

Unknown said...

Very astute! I agree with all your bullet points.
Relatively, those were boring mutants (Banshee, Darwin, Angel) that don't excite anyone. And unneccesary mutants (why is Mystique like the lynchpin of the X-Men franchise?)
It was a GI Joe plot.
And 1st class with out the original 5?

Kyle Leach said...

Good points V. Hollywood doesn't seem interested in continuity, integrity, or making something truly great, and they should be. They seem to think that throwing money at a film makes it a blockbuster, a movie with appeal, it doesn't though, it just makes it an expensive film.

Ron Buckmire said...

I thought the movie was well done too, but I'm not an X-Men aficionado like the rest of y'all though I did buy the comic books in the late 80s.
i LOVE me some STORM, CYCLOPS, WOLVERINE, ROGUE.

I didn't even know who Emma Frost was!

The best thing about the movie was changing it into a 1960s retro milieu. That was hawt.

And, Michael Fassbender. DAYUM!

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.