X-Men Day of Future Past Releases Next Week

[key2win]

So looking forward to seeing this. 8 PM next Thursday first showing. Anyone else going to see this?

[key2win]

Seeing this tomorrow at an early 6 PM preview showing in 3D for free.

[key2win]

Saw movie last night. Movie was awesome. There is a post credits scene too.

[key2win]

Weekend Report: 'X-Men' Rules Memorial Day, Falls Short of Franchise Record - Box Office Mojo

X-Men: Days of Future Past dominated the box office over Memorial Day weekend, though it fell short of setting a new record for the 14-year-old franchise.

X-Men also opened day-and-date in most foreign markets and earned a phenomenal $171.1 million. By next weekend, it will pass The Wolverine ($282 million) to become the highest-grossing X-Men movie ever. For more details, see the Around-the-World Roundup below.

Playing at nearly 4,000 locations, X-Men: Days of Future Past earned an estimated $91.4 million over the three-day weekend. Among recent superhero movies, that's a bit lower than Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($95 million) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($91.6 million).

Among X-Men movies, it ranks second all-time behind X-Men: The Last Stand ($102.8 million), which opened on the same weekend eight years ago. It also sold fewer tickets than 2D-only entries X2: X-Men United and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Still, it was nearly $40 million higher than last Summer's The Wolverine, and was also a massive improvement over X-Men: First Class ($55.1 million).

For the four-day weekend, Days of Future Past earned an estimated $111 million. That ranks fifth all-time for Memorial Day weekend, but is around $12 million lower than The Last Stand.

With eight years of ticket price inflation and the addition of 3D premiums, it does feel like Days of Future Past should have been able to match The Last Stand. Unfortunately, The Last Stand arrived in theaters when the X-Men were still near the top of the comic book food chain. Now, they're merely one group in an increasingly crowded field (the same goes for Spider-Man).

Still, this is among the best openings of the year, and is a significant step up from the last two X-Men outings. By combining the original cast with the First Class crew—and using fan favorite Wolverine to bridge the gap—X-Men: Days of Future Past did manage to stand out from previous entries. Previews clearly outlined the high stakes ("The World's Greatest Threat Faces the World's Greatest Team") and provided enough big-budget spectacle to make this seem like an exciting addition to the superhero genre.

The audience for X-Men was 56 percent male and 59 percent over the age of 25. They awarded the movie a very good "A" CinemaScore.

The X-Men franchise is typically very front-loaded, though there's reason to believe that Days of Future Past might buck this trend. It's received strong reviews (91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and good word-of-mouth, and competition in the next few weeks isn't too bad. It should have no problem getting to $225 million, and could even come close to $250 million.

Around-the-World Roundup

At 118 countries, X-Men: Days of Future Past opened to a massive $171.1 million overseas this weekend. According to Fox, it earned more across the same bucket of territories than The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

The movie's biggest market was China, where it earned $37.7 million in its first three days. That's about even with Captain America, which has grossed over $120 million total there. This gigantic result in China is likely due in part to the inclusion of Chinese superstar Bingbing Fan, and the fact that most of the "future" section of the movie is set in China.

Days of Future Past also had the biggest debut ever for a Fox movie in 11 markets, including South Korea ($13.5 million), Brazil ($8 million), the Philippines ($3.9 million) and India ($3.9 million). Other major markets included U.K. ($14.2 million), France ($10.6 million), Mexico ($10.4 million), Russia ($10.3 million), Australia ($7.7 million) and Germany ($4.7 million).

By next weekend, Days of Future Past will be the highest-grossing X-Men movie ever ahead of The Wolverine ($282 million). With Japan and Spain still on the way, it's hard to imagine Days of Future Past falling short of $400 million total.