Why X-Men: Dark Phoenix Failed

3. The Marketing Errors

It's fair to say that Dark Phoenix's first trailer didn't exactly light the world up and unfortunately the entire marketing campaign has had issues. Again, you can't not mention the fact that the studio's publicity team failed to manage the reshoot leaks, which could have been minimised far better rather than becoming absolutely disastrous in audience perceptions.

But the trailers were a problem too. They never seemed to fully capture the tone we'd been promised (particularly if you were expecting a more cosmic X-Men movie) and then the decision to show Mystique's death in the second trailer quite overtly was just baffling. Why would anyone in their right mind think that confirming a bankable brand like Jennifer Lawrence's was going to be killed off early (which is what placement in the trailer confirmed absolutely) was a good idea?

Even looking at reports from the marketing on what internal sources THINK should have happened in the marketing suggests they just didn't have the right people in the right positions. According to one Deadline source, the marketing failed because they didn't take advantage of Sophie Turner's physical attractiveness:

"Sophie Turner is a beautiful actress, and they never showed that in any of the marketing materials. Instead, they made her look like a zombie.”

Maybe it did have an impact, but that definitely makes it sound like Fox's marketing team for this was just broken.

They should have taken a leaf out of Venom and Suicide Squad's books. Both were badly reviewed, but their marketing campaigns pushed how fun the movies were. Both were really championed and it looked like the studios were proud of what they made. Fox released a trailer for Dark Phoenix and then changed the release date while the trailer they'd JUST released had the wrong release date on it. Perception is everything.