“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,” Kinberg admitted. “So that’s on me.”
Simon Kinberg's directorial debut, 'X-Men: Dark Phoenix', is now on track to lose a huge chunk of money at the box office.
With some of the worst reviews of the entire 'X-Men' franchise, not to mention a woeful score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has finished off the mutants for the time being at cinemas. In a frank and candid interview with KCRW's 'The Business', Kinberg talked about who he blamed for its failure at the box office.
"It clearly is a movie that didn’t connect with the audiences that didn’t see it, it clearly didn’t connect enough with audiences that did see it, so that’s on me," Kinberg admitted. "I’m here and I’m saying when a movie doesn’t work, put it on me. I’m the writer/director of the movie, the movie didn’t connect with audiences, that’s on me."
That's pretty contrite stuff from Kinberg, but as well as this, there's also the fact that 'Avengers: Endgame' was only just out of cinemas when 'Dark Phoenix' landed. "I think also coming out five, six weeks after what may well be the biggest movie or the second biggest movie in the history of cinema, that also happens to be also in the genre of superheroes, was tough for us."
“I always anticipated that it was going to be tough to be in the tailwinds of that movie. But I wouldn’t blame it on the weekend," Kinberg explained. All told, 'Dark Phoenix' currently has taken in $148,853,971 against a reported budget of $200 million, meaning it needs to come up with an extra $50 million just to make back the production costs - never mind the marketing, promotional and PR costs.
Add to all of this is the fact that Disney now controls Fox and 'Dark Phoenix' being caught between the two release calendars, and it was never going to end well for it.
'Dark Phoenix' is currently in Irish cinemas.