X-Men: Days Of Future Past Pulls In $90.7 Million Its First Three Days - Second Best In The Franchise

The X-Men franchise has been one of many ups and downs at the box office. While audiences flocked to the earlier titles, waning quality featured in movies like X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine eventually led to a decline in ticket sales, and as a result, critically-approved titles X-Men: First Class and The Wolverine both wound up making less than $150 million during their domestic theatrical runs. Because of these numbers, many have questioned whether or not the X-Men series can still hang with the other big superhero universes building in Hollywood. X-Men: Days of Future Past is now in the process of proving naysayers wrong.

The three-day box office report for the latest sequel in the X-Men franchise has arrived, and in its first weekend the movie has managed to pull in a strong $90.7 million. While this isn't quite as impressive as, say, The Avengers (which made $212 million in its first three days), it's still pretty damn good for an X-Men movie. The number is high enough to establish Days of Future Past as the second highest opening in the series behind only Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand (which pulled in $102 million back in May 2006). That said, when adjusted for inflation the movie actually ranks fourth behind X-Men: The Last Stand, X2: X-Men United and X-Men Origins: Wolverine - and it's the only movie among those titles to be released in 3D.

Another advantage that X-Men: Days of Future Past will have over most films in the franchise and for the rest of the summer is the power of the four-day holiday weekend that comes with being released on the Friday before Memorial Day. Thanks to everyone getting the day off here in America, the comic book movie's total is expected to jump up another $10 million, allowing it to cross the $100 million mark. This all comes after some modest success during midnight showings, where the film managed to pull in $8.1 million. Adding in the $171 million it has made from international screenings and X-Men: Days of Future Past looks like it's well on its way to earning its reported $200 million budget.

So what's left to be determined? How about which X-Men movie ranks highest amongst the rest in terms of quality. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 91%, X-Men: Days of Future Past is backed by critical approval, but do you think it's better than legitimately great movies like X2: X-Men United and X-Men: First Class? Answer our poll below and elaborate on your vote in the comments section!