X1: sixth biggest opening weekend of all-time
X2: fourth biggest opening weekend of all-time
X3: fourth biggest opening weekend of all-time

Idk why but I feel like Marvel and DC completely stole their thunder once they arrived on the scene

X-Men Origins: Wolverine really set back the franchise didn't it. That film opened well despite being a solo Wolverine film and coming out after the supposedly hated X3.

Days of Future Past and Logan came out in the midst of Marvel domination and did very well. I think X-Men held its own admirably. Unfortunately audiences are clearly tired of these characters, it's been 12 movies.

First mistake, no more wolverine. Apocalypse was easily the least liked. Add in Disney and Fox ultimately dumping this, for some in godly reason chose not to use X-men in the title, no money shots, and really subpar marketing, Jennifer Lawrence was hardly used, little promotion, and for fans the story seemed like a rehash.

They were right when Days of Future last was the pinnacle of the franchise. Both films seemed smaller than the last

Jennifer Lawrence is a nobody in 2019. talk fast rise and fall. nobody cares

I don't know if its just me, but it feels like X-Men hasn't been relevant since X3 as far as mainstream popularity goes. Yes I know critics loved FC, DOFP and Logan, but none of those films came close to adjusted box-office grosses of X3 or X2. Hell take out Deadpool 1 and 2 and they are barely within striking distance of the first X-Men's adjusted box-office with the exception of DOFP. Now, maybe that has more to do with ticket prices and the way more and more people are depending on online streaming services these days, but its still just goes to show you how left behind these movies are and if it wasn't for the OS box-office or the modest budgets for films like Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Logan it would look far worse than it really does. I kind of agree with Excel that Marvel and to some degree DC really stole their thunder once their movies started blowing up even though Fox has had some success during their domination. I still think DOFP and Logan should have done better domestically than they did, especially considering the hype going into those movies and the strong reception from critics.

It is very disappointed but Fox bungled X-men badly. I understand Vaughn wanted DOFP to be the third film. I wondered what the second film would have been. I still haven't seen Dark Phoenix yet. I am not sure if I want to go to a theater and see this trainwreck or not.

Yeah, JLaw's trajectory is kind of insane. She had this massive start with being in two big franchises (Hunger Games and X-Men) and two ensemble awards-tier films that broke out massively (Silver linings and American Hustle), plus winning the Oscar. All this in a 2 year span, which led Hollywood and the media to believe she was the next big acting superstar. Then her franchises fizzled out, her Oscar movies starting flopping and being panned, and all the projects she had lined up as a star vehicle (mother!, Passengers, Red Sparrow) flopped. Now she has zero projects in production. Also, the rumour is that she took too long to get the ball rolling on the Elizabeth Holmes film and now there's a Netflix series or something being done on the same topic so the film might be in limbo as well.

Despite no Oscar, Margot Robbie ended up having the career it seemed JLaw would have. Emma Stone is doing better too with Cruella and a new Alexander Payne movie on the way.

I think it's quite simple - X-Men was the first big hit of the recent Marvel era but were then surpassed by bigger names. X-Men has always been a little geekier than other MCU and DC properties.

And most importantly - audiences never warmed to the new younger cast/characters. Telling when the biggest hits after X3 (DOFP and Logan) featured the old crew.