How Does The Wolverine Stack Up Against Other X-Men Films?

Hugh Jackman’s latest turn as The Wolverine in James Mangold’s The Wolverine has polarized opinion; some praised the J-movie style and deliberate slow pacing, while some found it out of place and dull. But how does the latest entry into the X-Men franchise compare to the other films in the franchise?

Jackman is enjoying his finest hour as Wolverine, somehow

Well, comparing it to the earlier entries makes from grim reading. X-Men - at the turn of the millennium - launched the movie version of the comic book in a big way, scoring at the box office and landing an 82% rating on review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes.

It was a similar story with the subsequent two films, X2: X-Men United (2003) and X-Men: First Class (2011), both of which grabbed strong box office totals and settled on 87% and 88% on RT respectively, although to be fair to Jackman, he had nothing to do with the latter.

Released last night, The Wolverine is set for a big weekend

He did, however, have something to do with X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 - a movie that appeased the studio with a box office total of just under $460m (globally) but failed to impress the critics, well and truly splatting with 57%.

The worst was still to come – X-Men Origins – Wolverine represents Jackman’s lowest ebb as Logan the Wolverine. Again, box office numbers didn’t drop dangerously low – the film managed $373m worldwide – but the critics laid into it, and it finished up on 38%; a rotten tomato indeed.

But can he best his previous efforts?

In light of that, it’s fair to say The Wolverine, starring Will Yun Lee and Hiroyuki Sanada, has been somewhat of a success. 67% on Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t scream film of the year material, but it’s no Lone Ranger, that’s for sure. And with the Marvel franchise’s record for excellent box office stats, we expect this weekend to be a big one for Jackman and his razor-handed alter-ego.