X-Men: The Last Stand is the third film adaptation of the Marvel Comics' X-Men superhero comic books, following X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003). It was directed by Brett Ratner, who took over when Bryan Singer dropped out to direct Superman Returns. The movie revolves around a "mutant cure" that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans, and on the mysterious resurrection of Jean Grey, who appeared to have died in X2. The film is loosely based on two X-Men comic book story arcs: writer Chris Claremont's and artist John Byrne's "Dark Phoenix Saga" in The Uncanny X-Men (1980) and writer Joss Whedon's and artist John Cassaday's six-issue "Gifted" arc in Astonishing X-Men (2004).
The film was released May 26, 2006 in the United States and Canada, and one or two days earlier in approximately 22 other countries. Despite mixed reviews from critics and fans of the comic book series, the film did extremely well at the box office. Its opening-day gross of $45.5 million is the fourth-highest on record while its opening weekend gross of $103 million is the fifth highest ever.
The film is sometimes colloquially referred to as X3, XIII, X-Men 3, or X-Men 3: The Last Stand.
X-Men: The Last Stand grossed $45.1 million domestically for the fourth-highest opening day after Spider-Man 3 ($59 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($55.8 million) and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith ($50 million). (All figures here not adjusted for inflation.) It is ranked fourth among film debuts having generated an estimated $122.9 million domestically during its four-day Memorial Day opening weekend and the number one Memorial Day movie of all time until the record was broken by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End which earned $142 million during its four-day Memorial Day opening. The website The Numbers notes that the film's weekend gross "equals the record for the fewest number of days taken to earn $100 million, joining four other movies that achieved the feat in three days." However, the film suffered a significant drop of 66.9% in its second weekend, when its box office take fell to $34.0 million. Nevertheless, the film has grossed over $234 million in North America (fourth-highest of 2006) and over $459 million globally (fifth-highest of 2006). It is the fifth-highest-grossing comic book adaptation, and the highest grossing of the X-Men series. It became the first film of 2006, and the 67th film on record, to pass the $200 million mark at the North American box office, which it accomplished on the weekend of June 9, 2006. It is the first X-Men movie to surpass $200 million outside the United States. X-Men: The Last Stand is one of the few third installments in a series to outgross its predecessors, The Return of the King being another example.
Reviews of the film have generally been mixed, with the film-review website Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a 57% approval rating. The film review aggregate site Metacritic also reported mixed reviews with a score of 58/100. Ebert & Roeper gave the film two thumbs up, with Ebert stating "I liked the action, I liked the absurdity, I liked the incongruous use and misuse of mutant powers, and I especially liked the way it introduces all of those political issues and lets them fight it out with the special effects." Some film critics, however, considered the third film to be of lesser quality than the previous two. Justin Chang from Variety said the film is "a wham-bam sequel noticeably lacking in the pop gravitas, moody atmospherics and emotional weight that made the first two Marvel comicbook adaptations so rousingly successful." Frank Lovece of Film Journal International said, "A risk-taking script with genuine consequences elevates this ... above the lackluster direction of Brett Ratner, whose competent mechanics move the story efficiently but with very little soul." At the 2007 Saturn Awards, Famke Janssen won the Best Supporting Actress award for her portrayal of Jean Grey.Wikipedia
