Dark Phoenix Reportedly Already Being Pulled From Theaters

Things are only getting darker for Dark Phoenix. 

According to Jeff Bock, senior media analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co., 20th Century Fox's Dark Phoenix is already getting booted from theaters in its third week out. 

Bock tweeted that Dark Phoenix, which stars Sophie Turner as Jean Grey and chronicles the mutant's transformation into her deadly and destructive alter ego, will lose 1,667 theaters during its third week of release. That's a 44 percent drop in domestic locations, as Dark Phoenix debuted on Friday, June 7 in 3,721 theaters across the U.S. and Canada. Such a drastic pulling will undoubtedly impact the film's chances at any kind of box office success moving forward. 

Though Bock didn't offer an explanation as to why Dark Phoenix is no longer showing in well over a thousand theaters from here on out, reasons aren't exactly needed.

The film suffered setback after setback on the road to production, facing multiple delays, exhaustive reshoots, extensive rewrites (that completely changed the third act and altered the ending), and several test screenings that bombed with audiences before it ever formally launched. Once it did arrive in theaters, critics dismantled Dark Phoenix and burnt it to the ground. Reviewers roasted the film, the directorial debut from longtime X-Men franchise producer Simon Kinberg and the final X-Men film from the now-Disney-owned Fox, as "a stupendously dull series-ender without a shred of wit, narrative thrust, or genuine emotional force." 

Box office dividends weren't any better, with Dark Phoenix posting the lowest opening in X-Men franchise history. It's mostly for the same reasons that Dark Phoenix didn't fare well with critics that it totally flopped at the box office (the troubled production, the divisive marketing, and the release date delays), and the film's bloated budget of $200 million certainly didn't make turning a profit easy. As of this writing, Dark Phoenix has made $232.9 million worldwide — only about $33 million more than its estimated cost of production.

Sadly, Dark Phoenix reportedly getting yanked from over 1,600 theaters is just another nail in its coffin. While some fans seem to have genuinely enjoyed the flick, it's basically guaranteed to go down in history as the most widely disliked X-Men movie of all time.