Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Box Office Hell: “Dark Phoenix” $7 Mil Lower than Lowest Estimate, “Pets 2” Comes in 53% Lower than Original, But “Rocketman” Hits $50 Mil

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What a weekend!

Marvel-Fox-now Disney’s “Dark Phoenix” came in at $33 million including Thursday previews. The low estimate had been $40 million, so this was really really really a disappointment.

It’s the end for the X Men in their current form, but a sad one considering how other series on both TV and in movies have gone out on highs– especially the Avengers for Marvel.

But now there will a break, a re-think, and the X Men, Spider Man, the surviving Avengers, and other Marvel characters will all be tossed into new movies. But this left the X Men in tatters, whereas Spider Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther remain hot hot hot.

In other news the number 1 movie of the weekend,  “Secret Life of Pets 2” made sad $47 million. That’s 53% lower than the original blockbuster. The Pets will have to come up with better Secrets for their third installment. (Maybe a Marvel crossover!)

“Rocketman” has hit $50 million on its way to $100 million. The Elton John biopic is doing very well. Whenever someone says, What  movie should I see? I tell them “Rocketman.”

Some more good news: “Late Night” made $250,000 in four theaters. It goes wide on Friday.

and Alec Baldwin’s “Framing DeLorean” made $9,106 in one theater. I think he’ll figure out a way to return to “Saturday Night Live.” He’s got five kids to feed!

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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