When Dark Phoenix rises in theaters this weekend, the box office will not follow suit.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest X-Men film is eyeing a soft debut in the range of $50 million. If the tracking is correct, this would be a franchise low for Fox's X-Men. 2013's The Wolverine currently holds that position with its $53.1 million opening weekend.
At the time of writing, Dark Phoenix sits at 23% on Rotten Tomatoes with 120 reviews. As such, it is the lowest-scoring X-Men film to date, sitting almost 10% behind X-Men Origins - Wolverine. It looks like this poor word-of-mouth, in addition to some other factors, will impact Dark Phoenix at the box office.
Dark Phoenix faces The Secret Life of Pets 2 at the box office this weekend. Secret Life of Pets 2 looks to score in the $60 million range, meaning it will likely cinch top spot for the weekend.
Directed and written by Simon Kinberg, Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Holt, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters and Jessica Chastain. The film arrives June 7.