Hugh Jackman Was Told That X-MEN Would Bomb and Hurt His Career
Hugh Jackman got his big break with Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000. Taking on the role of Wolverine epically launched his career and it seems like he's never really had any issues getting acting work since.
At the time, starring in a film like X-Men was a gamble because superhero/comic book movies weren't as popular then as they are now. While talking to Willem Dafoe in one of Variety's "Actors on Actors" episodes, Jackman talked about how the comic book movie genre wasn't even a thing when X-Men came out.
"No one really knew, there was no comic book genre. Comic book movies were really not around at the time."
Before X-Men was released, Jackman was told by a friend of his that the movie would bomb and that it would hurt his career and Jackman shared the story, saying:
"I remember finishing the first movie, and a mate of mine who was in Hollywood- who was a player 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 four 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.'"
Then what happened? X-Men became a huge success and Jackman's career exploded. Jackman went on to say, "Happily, he was wrong." Things were just so uncertain back then.
It just goes to show that just because someone within the film industry says a movie is going to bomb, doesn't mean the movie is really going to bomb. Right now there's a rumor that Disney thinks Solo: A Star Wars Story is going to bomb, but will it really bomb? Probably not. It's a Star Wars film and it will probably make a shit-ton of money.