The comic book adaptation, X-Men, has opened in the US to huge success. It has taken $57.5m over its opening weekend, making it the biggest non-holiday, non-sequel ever. It is also the fourth largest three-day opening after such heavy weights as The Phantom Menace, Jurassic Park and Mission: Impossible 2.

Early fan reviews of the film were extremely positive (see our story), but the critics were less kind, and suggested that the adaptation was unlikely to appeal to non-comic book fans.

Jonathan Foreman in the New York Post writes that the film "gets off to a terrific start. For the first 20 minutes, it promises to be one of the best-ever movie adaptations of a comic book." But he then adds, "the pace slows, and you're asked to focus on characters so thinly sketched that it's hard to really care what happens to them."

Desson Howe at the Washington Post described it as a "visually entertaining but empty adaptation"; while David Sterritt, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, included a box-office forecast: "My guess is that X-Men will fail to show superhero strength at the ticket window," he wrote, "it has lots of action, some solid performances, and a few real issues on its mind. But it's awfully dark in mood and appearance not an ideal approach to warm-weather escapism." Phillip Wuntch, however, in the Dallas Morning News, concluded that "X-Men will appeal to all your senses without insulting your common sense."

The success of the film with the movie-going public and comic-book fans alike means that sequels are already being planned. According to 20th Century Fox's Tom Sherak: "X-Men's opening bodes well for a sequel. Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman have already signed up."