"The Wolverine" is the latest spinoff from the X-Men franchise. It is also a film that is expected to "heal" the string of big-budget losses in Hollywood.

The first of these big-budget losses was "After Earth", which made only US$59 million out of a US$130 million. "White House Down" was also a big time loser, too. The movie had a budget of US$150 million but only earned US$68 million so far. "The Lone Ranger" also made it to the list of big-time flops, earning US$81 million only for a budget of US$250 million.

This bad run started last June when Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, two veteran directors, warned of a "meltdown of the traditional model of releasing films in movie theatres". "There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen mega-budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm," said Spielberg.

Industry expert and producer Kathryn Arnold said that mediocre quality was the cause of the last batch of mega-budget movie flops. "Audiences are smarter, have more options for viewing content and are connected to media more than ever before. Studios must learn not to short-change the storyline when making big budget movies," Arnold added.

With the summer season far from over, "The Wolverine" could still bring redemption to big-budget film flops in Hollywood. The movie was right on track with US$2 million below the US$65 million estimate of Fox.