Hugh Jackman Was Told the First X-Men Film Would Bomb

While it gets a lot of flack from fans today, the first X-Men film was a landmark for comic book adaptations at the time. Sure, it's a bit dated now compared to the films Marvel Studios trots out but considering how comic book adaptations were represented by Batman and Robin back then, it was equal to The Avengers at the time. Turns out a number of people within Fox were worried the film would bomb, even the film's lead Hugh Jackman to look for another role.

According to Cinemablend, Jackman was told to prepare himself for the film's possible failure. It was a serious concern at the time and apparently, some people weren't too high on the film's final cut. Though things did end up differently, one can only imagine how superhero films would have been like if X-Men had bombed.

Here's what the Wolverine star had to say about it:

"I remember finishing the first movie, and a mate of mine who was in Hollywood, he goes, 'Dude, I've heard not very good things about the movie. You really should book something else before it comes out.' So, there was about a 4-month gap, he goes, 'Just make sure you got something else, because when it comes out you're back down at the bottom of the pile again, you know?' Happily, he was wrong, but no one really knew, there was no comic book genre. Comic book movies were really not around at the time."

Thankfully, the film did well and spawned a huge franchise for Fox, which is now owned by Disney. While the X-Men films have had a few misfires, they're easily dwarfed by some of the better installments in the franchise. X2: X-Men United, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, the list goes on.

Let's not forget some of the more experimental films that ended up being major successes, such as Deadpool and Logan. Those films also gave way to next year's The New Mutants, which will try mixing super-heroics with horror.

The X-Men franchise's next film, ­X-Men: Dark Phoenix is slated for release on November 2, 2018.

Read:Hugh Jackman Would Reprise His Role As Logan In Wolverine Musical