When it comes to the X-Men movie series, it isn’t just the quality that’s inconsistent, but the box office results as well. From great movies that underperformed worldwide to critical failures that made hundreds of mullions of dollars, the X-Men movies have had somewhat of a topsy-turvy box office history.
Between the original trilogy, the Wolverine solo movies, and the prequels, studying the box office results of the X-Men franchise can be as confusing as following the timeline of the series itself. But thanks to the success of one mutant, whose worldwide success changed the way studios green light movies forever, the series continues to break records when it comes to the box office.
X-Men: First Class (2011) - $352,616,690
After the critical failure of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the series took a new approach with X-Men: First Class, which highlights the origins of the X-Men team. It’s a fascinating narrative, and the friendship (and subsequent fallout) between Charles and Eric is one of the most well told origins of all time.
However, though the movie was so critically acclaimed and has been seen as one of the best prequels of all time, it didn’t actually perform as well commercially as Origins: Wolverine or The Last Stand. That might have something to do with the fact that Wolverine is absent from the movie except for one cameo.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) - $373,062,864
Though X-Men Origins: Wolverine might be one of the highest grossing movies in the series, it’s surprising how much money it made considering how underwhelming of a response it received from both audiences and critics. The movie took so many liberties with Deadpool, and the CGI looks worse than the X-Men movies that came out almost 10 years earlier. Still, that’s a testament to the bankability of the character of Wolverine. No matter the final result of the movie, audiences will show up in droves.
X2 (2003) - $407,711,549
Coming off the massive success of the first X-Men movie, it’s no surprise that the follow-up was even more successful. Generally considered as the best X-Men movie of the original trilogy, X2 strengthens Wolverine's screen time, showcases stunning CGI (that was remarkable for its time), and added new mutants who totally lived up to their potential - especially Nightcrawler.
For a movie that is a combination of two different scripts, the film is surprisingly one of the most cohesive in the whole X-Men series, and its box office shows that many others were satisfied with the sequel as well.
The Wolverine (2013) - $414,828,246
Being the follow-up to the tepidly received X-Men Origins, The Wolverine had a much better reception from critics, and that was represented in the box office intake worldwide too.
The movie had a refreshing visual style compared to other X-Men movies, as it was based in Japan and it showed the character at his physical and emotional best - up to this point in the series, that is. However, it didn’t do the numbers that other superhero series were doing at the time, as Iron Man 3 made over a billion dollars, and Man of Steel and Thor: The Dark World grossed well over $600 million in the same year.
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) - $460,435,291
Though it was almost going to be directed by Zack Snyder - which would have looked a lot different - Brett Ratner took over the reins of the X-Men series after Bryan Singer stepped down, taking the lead on X-Men: The Last Stand.
The Last Stand was the first critical failure in the series, as many questioned its preposterous plot points, such as Magneto hiding out in a woods when his actual power is being able to bend metal. But that didn’t stop the movie from being the most commercially successful of the first three movies, as no other movie in the series would surpass its $460 million gross until the eighth film in the franchise.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - $543,934,105
It seems like the X-Men series is impervious to negative reviews, as X-Men: Apocalypse is yet another movie that has a rotten score of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, but still made a more than respectable $543 million worldwide. It could have something to do with the fact that it isn’t as bad as people say, as it ties up many of the series’ loose ends, and it still features a Quicksilver scene that surprisingly outdoes his introduction in Days of Future Past. But despite making over half a billion dollars, it was still a disappointing result, as it made a whole $200 million less than it’s predecessor.
Logan (2017) - $619,179,950
Logan is the movie that fans had been waiting for ever since the universe began back in 2000. Thanks to the success of the R-rated Deadpool, the series continued the bloodshed and vulgar language with Logan, and that’s what helped it gross over $600 million worldwide and become the best X-Men movie according to Metacritic. The success of the movie may also be credited to the fact that Wolverine was absent from the last X-Men movie and that Logan was a pleasant change in tone to Deadpool’s ridiculousness.
X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014) - $746,045,700
X-Men: Days Of Future Past is the highest grossing movie in the series that isn’t a solo superhero movie, and amazingly enough, it’s the highest by hundreds of millions. The movie combines the fan favorite mutants of the original trilogy and the characters of the prequel, First Class. It was the perfect storm, which is fitting considering it even saw the return of Storm.
The film had a fascinating time bending narrative, and every character made the best use out of their powers, making for supreme superhero spectacle. But best of all was the introduction of Quicksilver, and the word of mouth about his scene in the Pentagon surely influenced millions of dollars worth of ticket sales alone.
Deadpool (2016) - $782,836,791
For a movie that barely escaped development hell, it's stunning that Deadpool is the most successful movie in the X-Men series. Though it isn’t the highest grossing movie in the series, it made the most profit by a landslide, as it had a budget of barely $60 million - way less than any other X-Men movie. Thanks to the ridiculous box office success of Deadpool, studios have been quick to green light R-rated superhero movies ever since, which is something they had been too scared to do for decades.
In the wake of Deadpool, other R-rated comic book movies have been released including Logan and Joker, the latter of which made over a billion dollars, putting to bed the theory that R-rated films can’t be successful. And there are others coming too, as Deadpool 3 and Joker 2 are currently in development, and The Suicide Squad will be released later this year.
Deadpool 2 (2018) - $786,470,484
Though the original felt like it had a low budget, especially given the fact that most of the film is set on a highway, Deadpool 2 expands the superhero world tenfold. Thanks to there being no budgetary restraints, Deadpool 2 is full of cameos, it’s more like the comics, and it introduces one of the best X-Men villains, Cable, which is why it’s arguably better than the first. And though it only made $4 million more than the first movie, it still can say that it's the highest grossing film in the entire X-Men franchise.