Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

X-Men: Days of Future Past topples Godzilla to score best global debut of any X-Men movie

Bryan Singer's seventh installment took a massive $281m worldwide

Jess Denham
Monday 26 May 2014 06:07 EDT
Comments
Nicholas Hoult, James MacAvoy and Hugh Jack in 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'
Nicholas Hoult, James MacAvoy and Hugh Jack in 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past has stormed past Godzilla at the global box office to take a massive $281 million on its opening weekend – the best debut of any X-Men movie.

The seventh instalment unites original stars Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart with more recent actors such as Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Peter Dinklage and Jennifer Lawrence.

In the film, released on Friday, Jackman’s Wolverine gets his steel claws out once more to rally the mutant superheroes against a terrifying threat that could signal doom for everyone.

X-Men: Days of Future Past marks a record international opening for Fox, beating James Cameron’s 2009 3D epic, Avatar.

The blockbuster cost more than $200 million to make, with Singer, who stood down from promoting it after a sex assault lawsuit was filed against him, directing and producing.

The sequel has received mixed reviews from critics, with The Independent’s Laurence Phelan praising it as a “pleasingly coherent, plot-driven action movie” and Geoffrey Macnab calling "absurdly confusing".

It toppled Gareth Edwards' Godzilla from number one, but the radioactive monster is still in second place after surpassing industry estimates to take $196.2 million worldwide last weekend.

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore’s new rom-com Blended has not achieved such success, after suffering one of the lowest openings for a Sandler film in recent years.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in