X-Men launched one of the most successful superhero franchises in the history of cinema, but looking back on the series, it is shocking to see how little money their biggest failure was able to earn at the box office. While some of the biggest superhero flops have been notable, they have generally at least garnered attention and inspired conversation. This allowed even Marvel’s biggest flops to make an impact at the box office. However, this one film may wind up forgotten, considering how little attention it has received.

Even though ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine signaled the end of the Fox universe of X-Men characters, it now seems that this is no longer the case. Several X-Men stars have joined the cast of Avengers: Doomsday, and it seems fair to speculate that even more could be added to the film or its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars. With this in mind, it is clear that there is still interest in the X-Men franchise, which makes it even stranger to look back and examine the biggest flop that the franchise produced, released in 2020.

Fox’s X-Men Movies Had Some Major Successes

Every Other X-Men Movie Made Over $240 Million

Including ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, the X-Men franchise released a total of 14 films, and reaped more than $7 billion at the worldwide box office. This means that the average film in the series made $529 million, an incredible result for any franchise. Featuring a complex X-Men timeline that saw multiple timelines and casts, X-Men movies were a genuine event that audiences cared dearly for. This resulted in several spin-off franchises inside the series, including Wolverine and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool.

The X-Men films waxed and waned in popularity throughout their run. While the first film was a big success for its time, grossing $296 million on a $75 million budget, the direct sequels made even more money. These spawned some of the most memorable characters in superhero cinema, including Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, among many others. While an MCU reboot for X-Men is certainly ahead, most of these movies will be remembered for a long time.

The Box Offices Of Fox’s Other X-Men Movies Make The New Mutants’ Results Even More Notable

The Failure Of The New Mutants Is Astonishing

I’m a big fan of the 2020 Josh Boone-directed film The New Mutants, but the film’s box office suggests that I may be the only one. While up to that point, the lowest-grossing film in the X-Men franchise was Dark Phoenix, which made over $246 million, The New Mutants set an incredible franchise low, bringing in only $47 million at the worldwide box office. This is such a paltry number compared to even the lowest X-Men franchise films, causing many to wonder how it could have performed so poorly.

Grossing less than 10% of the average within the franchise is a staggering figure for this X-Men bomb. With a cast that included some of the most popular young names in Hollywood, including Anya Taylor-Joy, Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams, and Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton, the film seemed poised for great success. With a unique tone, exciting new characters, and a successful filmmaker coming off the success of The Fault in Our Stars, The New Mutants seemed likely to succeed, but did not.

Why The New Mutants Has Such A Low Box Office Result

The Film’s Failure Was Due To Several Factors

Unfortunately for The New Mutants, there were many factors involved in the film’s disastrous box office result. The perfect X-Men setup became plagued by studio issues during the 2019 Fox-Disney merger. While the film was originally conceived to begin a new franchise, this seems to have been less of a priority for Disney. After principal pH๏τography in 2017, the film was planned to undergo reshoots that never occurred, and wound up essentially shelved for several years before finally getting a theatrical release.

Even that release, however, was not at an auspicious time for films. The film was released in its original state, without completing the planned reshoots, in August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a terrible time for cinemas in general, with very few films finding great success. Many theaters were closed, and many audiences were not comfortable going to the cinemas. This led to the film’s failure at the box office and the end of a prospective new franchise.

It’s shocking to look at how poorly The New Mutants performed at the box office, but understanding the context of the film’s production and release helps to explain these numbers. It seems that Disney did not set the film up for success upon release. Still, while the film did not find success, it is worth revisiting. Seeing these popular characters is a lot of fun, even if the film itself did not live up to expectations for a new franchise.

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