After a strong opening in the busy blockbuster summer month of May, X-Men: Days of Future Past dropped to second place on its second weekend in theaters around the world. While its opening weekend didn't top X-Men: The Last Stand's 2006 opening haul domestically, with the help of 3D ticket premium boosts, Days of Future Past did break the record for international openings for the series, a growing trend in Hollywood as international markets prove increasingly more lucrative.

X-Men: Days of Future Past earned $90.8 million domestically in its first three days, comparable to other May openings in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Godzilla - along with April's Captain America: The Winter Soldier - which all brought in low to mid-$90 million openings as well. In its second weekend, X-Men: DOFP earned another estimated $32.6 million domestically and $95.6 million internationally.

That brings the total worldwide box office haul for X-Men: Days of Future Past to just over $500 million, setting a new record for the franchise in just nine days. To compare to the totals of previous series installments (The Wolverine is the only other 3D release in the series):

  • $296,339,527 - X-Men (2000)
  • $407,711,549 - X2: X-Men United (2003)
  • $459,359,555 - X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
  • $373,062,864 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
  • $353,624,124 - X-Men: First Class (2011)
  • $414,828,246 - The Wolverine (2013)

At this rate, Days of Future Past will finish with a $700 million+ total comparable to other 2014 Marvel-branded releases Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which speaks volumes to the success of Fox's big budget attempt at reinvigorating the X-franchise which until this latest installment has been unable to grow past The Last Stand at the box office and "right the ship" so to speak, after the pair of poorly received releases in The Last Stand and the first Wolverine solo title.

Of course, DOFP also represents the most expensive X-Men film to date, the second most expensive production ever from Twentieth Century Fox, sitting behind only Avatar. It was a big investment for the future with the studio pre-announcing a sequel for 2016 in X-Men: Apocalypse along with a third solo Wolverine out for 2017 followed by another unannounced X-Men movie for 2018. In between these are a reboot of Fantastic Four and a sequel, emphasizing how much Fox will be depending on their Marvel properties as tentpole releases for the foreseeable future.

Now if they only brought back the '90s animated X-Men cartoon theme song:

More: ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Is Bigger Than ‘Days of Future Past’

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Bryan Singer directs X-Men: Days of Future Past with newcomers Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Boo Boo Stewart, Fan Bingbing, Evan Peters, Adan Canto, Josh Helman, Evan Jonigkeit along with returning stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Lucas Till, and Daniel Cudmore.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is currently in theaters worldwide. Fantastic Four releases June 19th, 2015, X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27th, 2016, The Wolverine 3 (not the official title) on March 3rd, 2017, Fantastic Four 2 on July 14th, 2017, and an unspecified Marvel film on July 13th, 2018.

Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes for your X-Men comics and movie news!

Sources: Box Office Mojo, THR