Fans of the X-Men are familiar with the evolution of the trilogy: X-Men was good, X2: X-Men United was terrific, and X-Men: The Last Stand just plain sucked. Last Stand's director, Brett Ratner, has heard all the criticism and is sick of it.
You can't make these people happy. I'm kind of the anti-Christ to these comic book geeks. Every single person that wrote s**t went to see that movie multiple times because a movie doesn't gross $200 something million unless people go to see it more than once. Every single person who said, "I'm never seeing that movie," they were the first ones there.
Calling the fan base of your movie "geeks" isn't the most courteous of expressions, but his frustration is somewhat understandable since Last Stand did make $234 million in the U.S. alone and, ultimately, $460 million worldwide. It also cost $210 million to make, so it's not as impressive a profit margin as Ratner would have readers believe. If box office is the sole measure of a movie's success or failure, X2 was more profitable, with Last Stand barely surpassing The X-Men. Not that it matters to Ratner, who still considers his effort a triumph.
If I buried the franchise how the f**k did they make a Wolverine? I mean, that's ridiculous. And they're making three other f**king X-Men movies. Mine kept the franchise alive!
X-Men "geeks" will likely disagree with that statement, and could point out that the success of X-Men Origins: Wolverine is keeping the franchise alive. Also, it might be mentioned that Fox has to continue to developing X-Men movies or else the rights revert back to Marvel Entertainment.