X-Men Movies Ranked According To Their Budget
If you’re a fan of watching superhero movies, there’s no chance in a lifetime that you’ve missed the impeccable X-Men franchise. A blockbuster, box-office breaking, top-charting, and the most important, critically acclaimed movies, the X-Men series have dominated our hearts and minds ever since the first movie came out in 2000.
Author:Elisa MuellerReviewer:James PierceOct 13, 202240 Shares964 Views
If you’re a fan of watching superhero movies, there’s no chance in a lifetime that you’ve missed the impeccable X-Men franchise. A blockbuster, box-office breaking, top-charting, and the most important, critically acclaimed movies, the X-Men series have dominated our hearts and minds ever since the first movie came out in 2000.
The X-Men series is known to have complex characters and engaging storylines that captivate your attention and demand your interest. Adapted from the comic book series, every movie has high investment due to the level of CGI and technical advancement required to create an atmospheric movie. Furthermore, you have some of the top actors of our times lined up to perform iconic characters starting from Hugh Jackman to Jennifer Lawrence and Ryan Reynolds.
Did you know that the average budget of an X-Men movie? Do you have any idea which X-Men movie needs the highest budget and investment? And whether or not every movie has more or less the same budget and costing? Well, in this article, we’re going to rank all the X-Men movies based on their budget, addressing the most commonly asked questions; like the ones mentioned above.
Deadpool: $58M
Alright, we know that Deadpool is not technically a member of the X-Men and the only link this movie has with the original members of the X-Men is Colossus. But let’s be fair, you just can’t include Deadpool in the X-Men universe; mainly because of the character’s involvement and sudden departure from the previous X-Men films.
First of all, this movie managed to become not only the cheapest X-Men movie of all time but it is also the third highest grossing Rated–R movie of all time. Led by Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool still holds the record of having the highest opening by Fox and the biggest for any X-Men movie yet.
The credit must be given to the incredible Ryan Reynold who brought much of his own personality to the character and gave a version of Deadpool that was closest to the one written in the comic book series.
His comedic timing, witty one-liners and self-deprecating humor won us over in an instant. Not to forget, despite being the lowest budgeted X-Men movie, the filmmaker never compromised on the storyline.
X-Men: $75M
This movie was released when there were not enough superhero movies being made. Therefore, it made complete sense to have little faith and high risk factor involved; reflected in the budget of the film. But the fate of the movie was positive and led to the making of more superhero movies, so you can say that the X-Men has played a pivotal role in bringing superhero movies to the mainstream.
The X-Men made approximately $296,872,367 worldwide and that’s a great number for a film made in $75 million. It gave a platform to some of the most iconic comic book characters to see the light of the day on the big screen. You could actually thank the makers of this movie for the creation of such fantastic superhero movies that are being made today.
Logan: $97M
Logan was produced after Deadpool, and by now, the makers were slightly more confident about producing yet another rated-R film. The success of Deadpool allowed the makers to put considerably more money on this story; something that was needed to show a much gritty and complex version of Wolverine that was seen so far.
Logan was also marketed as the last time Hugh Jackman would play Wolverine, so reasonably, this movie was going to hold a lot of emotional value to the audience and fans across the globe and that also meant that the stakes were much higher this time. Despite being a much different version of Wolverine, the audience and critics praised it and the movie made $614,228,432 at the Box Office.
Deadpool 2: $110M
After the global success of Deadpool, the producers were now willing to invest double the amount of what the original movie was made of. The movie that is loved by fans all over the world was highly anticipated due to the nature and R-rated comedy and sarcastic one-liners.
Not to forget, by now, Ryan Reynold had become a sensation who continues to reinvent stardom and a new-age version of it. Joker is the only Rated-R movie that has made more money than Deadpool 2 – it is currently standing at $786,680,557.
x-2: $110M
When X-Men succeeded at the Box Office, it got everybody excited about the next one. After the trailer of X-2 was released, people had become incessantly obsessed and that led to pre-booking at the box office and shows after shows being sold out.
And the producers of the movie had already predicted this reaction from the audiences. This movie, thus, has a much bigger budget and it made double of what the first movie earned at the Box Office. It was critically and financially a success.
Considering the movie was released in 2003, the movie made a whopping $407 million at the Box Office, and to this day, holds the record of being the 6th highest earning X-Men movie of all time. Of course, all of this was possible due to the great performances, epic storyline, and incredible action.
The Wolverine: $120M
Fox got a lot of flak when it decided to give Wolverine a solo film. Despite the criticism, it went ahead and made a second film that was dedicated purely on Wolverine. This reflected poorly on the X-Men Origins. The only thing that probably saved them was the fact that this solo film featured Wolverine only and had no connections with the rest of the films on the X-Men.
It earned relatively mediocre reviews but it did earn a good number at the Box Office. One could blame the star power of Hugh Jackman in this case; firstly to get a second solo feature which was further commemorated with a Box Office success.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine: $150M
This is the movie that was marketed as the origin story but ended up giving Wolverine the center focus. You would be surprised to find out that this movie was a critical disaster and used as a joke in the original Deadpool movie – of course, Ryan Reynolds won’t leave a chance to lovingly mock Hugh Jackman and his failure.
This movie had new cast members in the face of James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. It also gave the introduction to the most pivotal character in the X-Men series: Professor X. However, the expectations were so high that the makers failed to match up to it.
X-Men: Apocalypse: $178M
This movie was supposed to focus on the younger versions of the X-Men team. It was released after Day of Future Past. However, the fans of the film were extremely disappointed with the end result. The movie promised a powerpack story and impactful performances. This was obviously hammered after big names like Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn and Oscar Isaac were dropped.
Although the movie made a good profit, the critics panned it entirely. It was released in 2016 and made only $543 Million at the Box Office. Apart from the failed story, the special effects were applauded and considered revolutionary for the cinema.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix: $200M
The third highest budgeted X-Men movie is also the lowest earning film of the entire franchise which is simply sad to hear. When Dark Phoenix was announced, it was declared that it will be the last of the franchise that began almost two decades before its release.
The attempt was made to bring the incredible Dark Phoenix Saga of the comics to screen. It was released in 2019 and was a financial failure. Fox literally lost $133 Million and did not recover the lost money.
X-Men: Days Of Future Past: $205M
If you have to point out one movie that completely ruined the timeline of the franchise it was this one. Days of Future Past was also the highest grossing movie of all time for the X-Men films. The film was considerably different from its previous ventures because the characters were humorous and had more depth than it was earlier depicted in the movies.
The movie made roughly $748 Million at the Box Office which completely justifies the budget and gave a push to the franchise that turned it into a global phenomenon.
X-Men: The Last Stand: $210M
X-Men: The Last Stand is the most expensive X-Men movie and also the most complex film of the series. The movie simply picked up too much and failed to give every storyline and every character it’s due. The character arcs simply failed to level up and that resulted in the loss of the plot; especially the one related to the mutant cure.
It opened to negative criticism but still managed to earn $2.3 Billion at the box office. The fans of the movie were absolutely fanatical. But one had to read the comic book series to totally understand what was going on in the movie. All in all, this movie served the fans, not the critics.
In Conclusion
As you can tell, there have been a total of 11 X-Men movies and all of them have had their own journeys. Some of them were risky from the word go while others served the fans and ignored the critical failure that was hammered everywhere in the news. The legacy of the X-Men movies is undeniable and you could say that it was a love letter to the fans of the comic book series.
Elisa Mueller
Author
James Pierce
Reviewer
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