Keeping the movie out of reach of most critics, 20th Century Fox could already see the writing on the wall about “Independence Day: Resurgence,” but the final numbers have confirmed what happens when you make a sequel to a movie starring Will Smith without Will Smith.
READ MORE: The Uninspired ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ Is Recycled, Disjointed Mush [Review]
‘Resurgence’ brought mega-destruction to cinemas to the tune of $41 million, falling behind the $50 million opening weekend haul of the original “Independence Day.” This may be a signal that director Roland Emmerich‘s particular brand of blockbuster moviemaking is now somewhat passé. While ‘Resurgence’ debuted much better than the $24 million bow of “White House Down,” it still didn’t beat the $44 million take of the critically reviled “Godzilla.” Moreover, in the cold light of day, Fox may have overestimated the nostalgic pull of the two-decade-old “Independence Day.” Certainly, audiences didn’t seem particularly compelled to watch Jeff Goldblum and Brent Spiner take on aliens again, while the gamble on Liam Hemsworth as the new franchise lead didn’t quite pay off. And while ‘Resurgence’ tallied up $102 million abroad, it will need those markets to really take off to be considered a success.
In a signal that movie executives might be well-advised to keep concepts simple and budgets down, thriller “The Shallows” snapped up $16.7 million in its opening weekend. That pretty much covers the cost of the shark-attack flick and marks Blake Lively‘s best debut leading her own film. It’s a solid win for Sony, and could be a little sleeper hit if word of mouth is strong.
While STX is trying to stake out their territory in Hollywood as the purveyors of the kind of mid-budget, adult-driven entertainment the other studios aren’t making anymore, they still can’t get anyone to show up. The $50 million Civil War drama “Free State Of Jones” limped away with $7.7 million. It’s Matthew McConaughey‘s worst wide-release debut since 1999’s “EDtv,” and certainly, STX’s counter-programming approach didn’t work. One wonders how this film might’ve performed as a platform release earlier this spring.
Taking the box office crown for a second straight weekend is Pixar‘s “Finding Dory.” The sequel hauled in a ridiculously huge $73.2 million, bringing the global total to just a shade under $400 million. It’s going to be one of the biggest animated movies of all time by the end of its run, with the only question being just how big it’s going to be.
In limited release, “The Neon Demon” could not match the hype with actual ticket sales. Rolling into more than 750 cinemas, the Amazon/Broad Green release only earned $606,594 for a woeful $775 per-screen average. Like ‘Free State,’ one has to wonder if a platform release might’ve been the smarter play. Even the hugely divisive and far less sexy “Only God Forgives” managed a $4000 PSA on its opening weekend across 78 screens. “The Neon Demon” took its buzz and put all of its chips on one weekend, and unfortunately, it looks like it didn’t pay out.
And it’s not like audiences are immune to weird or offbeat movies. Farting corpse flick “Swiss Army Man” started strong and small, with $114,000 ($38,000 PSA) on three screens; “Hunt For The Wilderpeople” earned $85,336 ($17,000 PSA) on five screens; and “Wiener-Dog” took in $27,000 on two screens.
In box-office milestones, “Warcraft” has cracked the $410 million worldwide which is a fantastic figure. However, the bad news: in its third week of release it’s already fallen out of the North American top 10 and has made only $44 million domestically. And while producer Simon Kingberg says Fox is happy with the box-office performance of “X-Men: Apocalypse,” you should be wary of that spin. The film is currently the third lowest grossing X-film in the series domestically (it could get to the fourth lowest, but unlikely much higher) and the superhero movie is down 30% from the worldwide total of ‘Days Of Future Past’ (and nearly 36% at home).
1. “Finding Dory” — $73.2 million ($286.5 mil.)
2. “Independence Day: Resurgence” — $41.6 million
3. “Central Intelligence” — $18.3 million ($69.3 mil.)
4. “The Shallows” — $16.7 million
5. “Free State Of Jones” — $7.77 million
6. “The Conjuring 2” — $7.7 million ($86.9 mil.)
7. “Now You See Me 2” — $5.6 million ($52 mil.)
8. “X-Men: Apocalypse” — $2.4 million ($151.1 mil.)
9. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows” — $2.4 million ($77.1 mil.)
10. “Alice Through The Looking Glass” — $2.1 million ($74.5 mil.)